Itachi, my brother
by Yoshi forever 52
Summary: It's amazing how much a story can change from a different perspective. The new view of the world is told by someone else this time, that someone: Itachi Uchiha. When Sasuke is put in the position to kill his clan while Itachi has to put up with team 7 the original story can change quite a bit...
1. Chapter 1: My promise to you

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it belongs to its respectful owner:: Masashi Kishimoto but if I did Sasuke wouldn't be so ugh. This is a non-profit work thank-you!

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><p>"Sasuke Uchiha I want you to slaughter every single one of the Uchiha clan, children and all." Danzo explained without the suttlest of any feeling.<p>

"..." Sasuke thought for a bit, his little brother; Itachi would definitely hate him and it just seemed so horrible and he has to join some organization as a spy? The air shifted and it was colder than ever before, such a beautiful night would be wasted.

"No! Why in hell would you think I would slaughter my clan because of Konoha's mindless assumptions?!" Sasuke yelled, yeesh let the world know.

"Let me say this again, thousands more lives will be lost if you don't do this, the Uchiha clan plan to do horrible things. By killing them all you can stop a war!" Danzo argued, slamming his cane on the ground.

"..."

"You are an Anbu black op and you will listen to me!"

"I-"

"Big brother? Wh-what're you doing?" Itachi asked, apparently he out of curiosity follower his big bro to heck know where. While still in his night-clothes and holding his stuffed bear despite it being extra cold out.

"Itachi go back to bed." Sasuke ordered, not looking back at him.

"Why?"

"This is adult conversation weasel, this is not of your concern."

"Now go Itachi." Sasuke said once more almost letting a tear fall.

"I will if you promise me to not ever let there be another war Sasuke, please I don't want people to die!" Itachi exclaimed with tears rolling down his cheeks.

"I promise." Sasuke promise for he too had tears falling down his cheeks.

Itachi went home and the decision was clear, Sasuke Uchiha is going to slaughter everyone in the Uchiha clan. In return of course Lord Third would keep Itachi safe in the village, Itachi his sweet brother.

_The next day..._

Itachi woke up and did his regular routine: bath, study of the economic class of the ninja village, breakfast, and try to play a game with Sasuke. Itachi tiptoed down the stairs and saw that Sasuke wasn't there in the kitchen making breakfast as usual...perhaps there wasn't any good since his mom was gone too.

"...I guess I have to skip breakfast." Itachi sighed after he rummaged through the cupboards.

Itachi sadly left the house and walked to school which wasn't too far but hey wasn't a cakewalk either. Itachi stepped in the classroom and sat in his seat, closest to the teacher to be exact.

"Ok class! We're having a lesson outside today!" Iruka Umino, Itachi's teacher and Chunin ninja who had a peculiar scar above his nose and was next to the only one nice to Naruto.

Naruto Uzumaki came in late as usual and looked like he just rolled out of bed, not only was he the worst student but worst dressed on most occasions. Wearing bright colors just screams I WANT ATTENTION DAMMIT!

"We are going to practice shuriken throwing and aiming." Iruka explained once the whole class was out of the school.

"Itachi go first for us."

"ITACHI! ITACHI! ITACHI!" A group of fan girls cheered because much to Naruto's annoyance he was the most popular, ladies boy, and talented person in the class.

Itachi threw the shurikens perfectly, the were so perfect they stacked up on each other which was even better than Iruka. Which to be honest he didn't exactly set the bar too high.

"That was a great example Itachi, so next we have-"

"Me! I'm going! I'm gotta beat that little weasel!" Naruto cut off while he ran toward Iruka.

"Are you kidding me?! Naruto is a loser!" A random kid who no one cares to know yelled.

"Yeah!" Another kid joined in.

"Ok Naruto." Iruka finally agreed, handing the hyper spiky blonde a couple shurikens.

Naruto through them, one went heck knows where, the other landed above Iruka's head and um the other stuck in the ground. This set the class howling with laughter except for Itachi who may have shown the slightest of the slight, the teeny-tiniest bit of maybe a smirk.

While mostly everyone was leaving Itachi being his perfectionist self tried to perfect the shuriken move with adding string to do it like a yo-yo cause that's how yo-yo's be! Itachi caught sight of Naruto and before he knew it Naruto was in his bubble, his personal space.

"Itachi why'd you have to show-off like that?" Naruto asked, not caring he was in the process of doing something.

"Because you lack-"

"I lack what?"

"Everything."

*vein pops out* "EVERYTHING?!"

"Like I said."

"What do you have that I don't weasel?!"

"Common sense."

Itachi walked away after he picked up his yo-yo shuriken to show Sasuke who was gonna be so proud of him. Itachi was almost at Uchiha town when he saw a flicker of whatever. Not caring he walked until he entered Uchiha town to his horror he was standing in a pool of blood from his aunt I think.

"...What...MOM! DAD!" Itachi suddenly yelled running towards his house trying to dodge countless dead bodies and blood stains.

"Itachi..." A voice called out.

"Hm?" Itachi asked as soon as he entered his house.

"ITACHI!" Sasuke yelled, appearing right in front of our petrified Itachi.

"Sasuke?! Who-" Itachi started to ask, seeing the dead bodies of his parents and feeling the rush of tears falling down from his face.

"I made you a promise not make me one too, Itachi get stronger and kill me once you've gained enough hate for me. I want to be killed by the hands of a Uchiha. Promise me Itachi and I'll tell you who did this."

"No I don't-"

"Promise me! Please little brother, please." Sasuke begged, he was in full anbu uniform expect for his fallen mask.

"I promise."

"I did it Itachi, now run Itachi, run. RUN before I change my mind!" Sasuke urged, he wanted Itachi gone so he wouldn't see the waterfall of tears running down his cheeks.

"I PROMISE SASUKE!" Itachi cried while he ran away from his monster of a brother, the brother he looked up to. It was over.

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><p>Our story begins four years after the Uchiha incident, Itachi Uchiha would finally become a full fledge ninja tomorrow just like his older brother, ugh, Sasuke. Itachi then did his daily morning routine: bath, study of the evolution and foundation of kunai knives, breakfast, and...oh yeah there is no and.<p>

"Ok so do I want to be an Anbu or do I want to be a genin...?" Itachi asked himself while he got cozy in the bathtub.

"...It's settled."

Itachi got out of the bathtub, studied, then picked up some leftover insta-ramen from last night and finally bolted out of his house...apartment I should say. Itachi for four years straight was known as the last (good) Uchiha so he got pitied on like a sick puppy and Itachi wasn't too pleased.

"Itachi! How have you been? It's been so long since I've seen you! Are you ok?!" Some old lady who I guess you know gushed as she squeezed Itachi like a doll, which is all what we wish to do with Itachi...

"Thanks and all but if you don't stop squeezing me I'll be late for-"

"Hush child you look famished! You have lines by your nose oh poor boy!"

"These lines were always here and-"

"Here have this dumpling and run off to school you'll be late!"

Itachi took the dumpling and ran off to school to sit where he always sat; front row left seat but this time there was a crowd of girls cheering for him. Naruto walked in and then started even more silent chatter.

"Look there's Itachi! He's sooo hot!" Ino Yamanaka, who was equally as annoying as Sakura exclaimed when all Itachi did was like breathe.

"We're 12 now so who do you think will get the first kiss?" Sakura Haruno, Ino's rival and she calls it love but I call it a lost cause on Itachi.

"Me! Itachi would never kiss a girl with a giant forehead!" Ino explained, because you know she's all that I would think.

"Well Itachi would never kiss a pig!" Sakura shot back, feeling a gaze she looked to see if Itachi was watching, he wasn't but once just once would she love to get Itachi's approval.

"No way!" A girl argued who we'll *sigh* never know.

"Me!" Another girl chimed in.

Hinata sat back in her seat hopelessly staring at Naruto, basically she was the only girl not in 'love' with Itachi. But had a huge with his lackluster self Naruto Uzumaki, with that being said she did like Itachi, ummean Itachi is the nicest guy to him next to Naruto I guess. Blinded with love you could say.

"Argh! Why are you so smug Itachi?!" Naruto asked, tired of him getting all the attention so he got up all in his grill, I guess to examine him I guess...

"I wasn't smug to begin with." Itachi simply answered, simply.

"Listen Naruto could you possibly get out of my-"

Some guy who I could careless to know the name bumper into Naruto accidentally and they um kissed, that's not weird at all...

*sweat drops down* "Naruto, would you get off me?!" Itachi asked because apparently according to situation Naruto and Itachi fell down on the ground and Naruto was on top of Itachi kissing him. Yes NaruIta proved!

"Bleck!" Naruto quickly spat out in disgust, right when he got off of Itachi Iruka came in.

"Ok class, this is your last day of school, tomorrow you are all ninja so your final test will be to create a clone. Now everyone the third hokage is coming so act nice." Iruka explained as the students went to serious testing room.

"First Itachi Uchiha."

Itachi walked in and did the hand signs: ram, snake, and tiger, next thing you know there were ten perfect copies. Perfect! It was a basically a carbon copy of the more advanced technique: Multi-shadow clone jutsu.

"Amazing Itachi as usual!" Iruka exclaimed, yep Itachi is gonna be a great ninja!

Next, next, next, blah, blah, blah, aaaaannnd Naruto Uzumaki, finally though no one believed him which was next to suckish. Naruto walked in the room before glaring at Kiba Inuzuka who was sooooo obnoxious, any who he did the jutsu and failed. It was just a piece of crap like what always happened, I guess Naruto wasn't becoming a ninja.

"So Itachi do you think Naruto's gonna fail?" Kiba asked, he was close to Itachi, so close his dog Akamaru was breathing on him.

"Naruto has as much as a chance as any of us Kiba."

"Yeah right! Naruto is the worst ninja in the academy, he'll never become a ninja."

"Just...shut up Kiba." Itachi surprisingly snapped at Kiba.

*ring*

The bell rang and Itachi along with his classmates ran out, Itachi of course decided he should upgrade his shadow clone jutsu to a multi-shadow clone jutsu! Though his plans were ruined when Naruto just trampled on him making both of them fall flat on the hard dirt.

"What're you doing Naruto?" Itachi asked trying to struggle out of Naruto's surprisingly strong grasp.

"That's it Itachi! You took everything else away from me but you can't take Sakura!"

"What?!"

"Sakura loves you right? Let's change that!"

"..."

Naruto transformed into a good enough copy of Itachi and somehow found Sakura sitting on a bench looking out into the distance.

"Hey Itachi!" Sakura squealed, extremely surprised the Itachi Uchiha came to see her.

"Sakura your forehead is so-" Naruto's stomach started to grumble and roar...possibly from that expired milk that I failed to mention.

(Wow! Itachi is gonna be the first person to compliment my forehead!) Sakura thought to herself practically bursting with joy.

"Your forehead is so...ugh...I have to-" Naruto started to say as he let out, let me say this, warning farts you could say that meant um go to the toilet idiot.

*sweat drops down* "Itachi...are you ok?" Sakura asked, his face was a little green and he looked sick.

"Oh man!" Naruto yelled as he put his hands behind his butt (um *ring-ring* we have a trope here) and ran as fast as he could to the toilet.

"Naruto?" Itachi asked as Naruto bolted past him.

"I gotta pooooooop!" Naruto yelled...still Itachi of course which probably looked funny actually.

Itachi went in the opposite direction of Naruto and saw that a grossed out Sakura was sitting on the bench waiting for Itachi to comeback, which he did.

"Sakura?" Itachi asked because jeez you'd think he would stop calling out names like the name game.

"Oh there you are Itachi! I'm guessing you're back from your _emergency_?" Sakura asked pretending not to notice his kinda clueless face though she could never really understand him in the first place so...

"Emergency what do you mean?"

"Oh never mind! Itachi you're just so dark and stoic unlike Naruto, ugh Naruto is way to hyper and annoying especially when he drools over me!"

"..."

"I bet he only acts like that since he doesn't have parents to keep him check, right Itachi?"

"...Will you just stop, why can't you just be nice to Naruto? You act just as bad as Naruto Sakura." Then Itachi kinda calmly walked off, she had hit a nerve on Itachi, he was orphaned too basically and she had NO right to say those words.

(I guess I'll try to be nice to Naruto.) Sakura thought to herself, though I'm still waiting for when she is nice to Naruto, still waiting.

_Itachi's apartment...sunset..._

"Wow, this kid Itachi is a genius I must say." Kakashi Hotake completed looking at the book he studied, also known as the Kakashi of the Shariganhe is one of the Jounin here that will take the students in for whatever.

"He's like you isn't he?" Iruka asked.

"Except he isn't becoming an Anbu black op, it would be interesting to have him on my team."

"Wouldn't it."

Itachi always came by late at night to his house since being the perfectionist he was wanted to do the multi-shadow clone jutsu. Though there was something crazy going on in the woods but that wasn't in his place to snoop, one thing he did learn though was he could cast a genjutsu. Disappearing into a flock of ravens sounded way too cool to pass up but awakening the Shariganwas gonna be hard, becoming an asshole because of the curse was not difficult though for our hero Itachi.

_The day after..._

Itachi ran to school, it was day to finally get assigned to his Jounin and teammates so he could become a great ninja in an awesome team. The bell rang and Iruka walked in, it was tense but clear what day it was.

"Ahem!" Iruka coughed trying to clear up his voice as the Jounin walked in.

"Konoha's team seven: Itachi Uchiha..." The room was tense, everyone hoped to get paired with Itachi especially Ino and Sakura.

"Sakura Haruno-"

"YES!" Sakura exclaimed as the room fell dead silent.

"And Naruto Uzumaki."

"Excuse me but why am I the greatest ninja ever paired up with that baka Itachi?" Naruto asked.

"Because Naruto we pair our worst students with our best, Naruto you are our worst while Itachi is the best." Iruka explained, owning Naruto like he do.

"You guys will be with Kakashi Hotake."

"Next team eight: Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame, you are all assigned to Kurenai Yūhi." Iruka continued reading aloud but Kurenai really does nothing so...

(Oh well I didn't get in Naruto's team.) Hinata thought to herself but hey too little too late.

"Finally team ten: Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka are all assigned to Asuma Sarutobi." Iruka then FINALLY finished, thank the stars!

(Kakashi Hotake...hm.) Itachi thought to himself looking at the masked white-haired ninja.

After pictures Kakashi told them to go inside a room and wait for him to do heck knows what. It was boring and lame and he was probably not coming back for a while so for punishment Naruto stuck a stupid eraser in the stupid door frame.

"He-he! That's what Kakashi-sensei gets!" Naruto laughed as he tiptoed back to his seat.

"Naruto you shouldn't have done that!" Sakura scolded...on the outside (CHA! What am I saying this gonna be so funny!) the crazy inside of herself thought.

(Sensei wouldn't be so stupid enough to fall for that, right?) Itachi questioningly thought to himself.

Oops! People make mistakes and Kakashi, *ahem* YOU FELL FOR IT! Naruto couldn't help but laugh out loud, Sakura was trying to hold it in and Itachi just smirked because he's too cool for school.

"Hm, first impression, I don't like you guys so let's move on. Tomorrow I don't want you to eat, no questions asked just don't do it." Kakashi instructed which was an odd order you must admit.

"What why?" Naruto asked obviously not listening.

"No questions Naruto! Now, Kakashi-out!" With that Kakashi disappeared so I guess no one could eat...odd and stupid but whatevs.

Itachi walked home in the cold night, he stayed awake when he knew he shouldn't have. Itachi had mixed feelings as always and would love to know why they couldn't eat...oh well I guess tomorrow he'll know...we'll all know.

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><p>AN: Yes I know I didn't put events in order oh well and no this is NOT OOC, trust me Itachi still has his personality intact and Sasuke as you all saw in the beginning still kept his attitude as well.

**!What's Next! **Yes! Everyone it's the famed survival test that's really only for Kakashi but...but...no one cares. Naruto gets owner many times as well as the other members, they all lack teamwork and reliability and Itachi finds this the hardest to learn. Will they become ninjas?

And yes I take suggestions, answer questions, etc...


	2. Chapter 2: We are a team! Believe it!

Recap: After having his clan slaughtered Itachi Uchiha is determined to fulfill his promise to Sasuke while also learning a thing or two about friendship. More troubles and trails will have to be faced of course for our hero Itachi.

**Warflower**: And yeah thanks! It'll be Hatake from now on;)

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><p>After doing what he does and skipping breakfast, Itachi was walking down the streets of Konoha to go to the red bridge out there...somewhere. Konohamaru Sarutobi, or honorary grandson as everyone liked to call him, tripped on his long scarf and dropped his apple.<p>

Itachi picked it up and handed it to the kid. "Here you go Konohamaru." Itachi said, he started to walk again before he was stopped by of course Konohamaru.

"Hey! Mister you're the guy that Naruto always complains about!" Konohamaru pointed out, biting on the apple.

"What?"

"Those lines on your face and that pony tail but you look nothing like a weasel."

"...Oh yeah that's just my name."

"Your name is weasel?"

"No it's Itachi, which means weasel."

"Yeah ok! You're the new boss from now on, I like your style. Stoic and cool that's how I roll!"

Itachi sighed and continued walking, finally ending up at the bridge though despite the interruption he was still early. Kakashi-sensei wasn't there but Naruto and Sakura were.

"Itachi! You're here!" Sakura squealed, running down to hug him.

"Humph! I don't like you Itach!" Naruto stated, crossing his arms and turning his neck.

"So what? Itachi doesn't wake up everyday to impress you." Sakura shot back, defending her crush.

"But I do like you Sakura!" Naruto said in a more ditzy tone.

"Ew." Sakura answered because that was nice?

"Hello everyone!" Kakashi greeted randomly appearing out of nowhere.

"Why are you late sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I ran into a parade." Kakashi explained.

"Yeah right Kakashi-sensei!"

_Later at a very scenic scene..._

"So, everyone. Love to get know everyone." Kakashi stared off, as he sat on an oddly comfy rock.

"Let's say what we like, dislike, and what our dream is. Naruto, go first."

"Alright! I love ramen just not when you hafta wait like five minutes for the insta-ramen to cook and cool down! I hate Itachi-teme and my I want to be hokage, that is my dream!" Naruto proclaimed.

"Sakura go."

"I like ummm," Sakura looked at Itachi and giggled and blushed. "I dislike Naruto and my dream is uhh to..."

*sighs* "Finally you Itachi."

"You can say that I like a lot of things but I hate things more especially my idea of a dream. If you want to call it a dream that is, this is more of a reality because I will fulfill my promise."

"Hey! What about you sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I like things, I dislike things and I have my dreams as well."

"...Now I wanted to do something...yeah there's enough time. Everyone trainings field let's go!" Kakashi instructed, disappearing to the training fields I guess.

Finally team seven arrived at the long waited training fields, it was after all just a beautiful green field with a surrounding forest along with three long tree stumps or maybe posts and of course the beautiful lake.

"Ok we're gonna do a survival test!" Kakashi explained, he held out two bells held together by a string. "Only two of you can receive your lunch by taking these bells away from me, that's why I made you not eat your breakfast. Since there's only two bells one of you will be kicked out and sent back to the academy."

"You can use shurikens if you like but to win you must come at me as if you want to kill me." Kakashi furthered explained as he dangled the bells in front of their faces.

"Ha! Yeah this'll be easy!" Naruto laughed.

"Laugh as you wish Naruto but class clowns are usually the weakest and first die." Kakashi rebutted, yeah like he do!

"Take that back!" Naruto yelled, he lunged towards Kakashi who easily dodged the attack.

"Good job Naruto trying to kill me like that. Now let the test begin!"

Itachi and Sakura vanished while Naruto stayed behind to go head on with his sensei, why is that in any way ninja like? Itachi thought about how Kakashi said only two could pass, a three man team didn't make sense. Never the less decided on what to do already, Itachi waited for the perfect moment to strike.

Finally Itachi stood up and walked out in the open, which on Itachi standards was pretty stupid. Itachi took a good look into Kakashi's eyes and ran up to strike him, Kakashi and Itachi sparred for a bit before Kakashi released the same move as he used on Naruto: One thousand years of death. Which sent Itachi flying? What?

"That was too easy, I though Itachi would put up a good-" Kakashi paused, he looked back and saw that Itachi was behind him sticking a kunai in his back.

"Itachi?" Kakashi asked. (he can do genjutsu?)

"It's over sensei."

Itachi vanished into a flock of ravens, before he knew it Itachi was there again this time at his stomach sticking yet another kunai this tone into his stomach. The real Itachi was right next to Kakashi about to steal the bells that was until Kakashi randomly disappeared.

Suddenly there was an ear-piercing scream coming from none other than Sakura, it seemed nothing was working and all hope was utterly lost. Then it came to Itachi, yep this was gonna work really nice if done correctly.

_Noon..._

After rounding up the team Kakashi scolded them about their lack of teamwork and threatened them all to send them back to the academy. After handing out lunches to Sakura and Itachi, not Naruto since he tried to steal the lunches and ended up in a predicament Itachi waited for Kakashi to leave.

"If I see you feeding Naruto any food, then you'll be kicked out of the shinobi program for good." Kakashi warned as he ironically left.

Itachi stood up and started untie Naruto. "Sakura...never mind." Itachi saw that Sakura got the message and she was feeding Naruto regardless.

"But Itachi, Sakura, you're gonna get kicked out of the shinobi program."

"Naruto I believe becoming hokage is more important than keeping a promise because that's what teammates do." Itachi said, he was nearly finished with untying the rope before he randomly came.

"Yeah Naruto, we're a team." Sakura added but not nearly as detailed as Itachi.

"YOU!" Kakashi yelled with a furious look on his face, scaring the crap out of everyone.

"Kakashi-sensei, you can't fail just them. We're a team, if they go I go too." Naruto stated, kicking his feet up in the air.

"You pass."

"Why? We broke the rules."

"It's true in _the _ninja world, those who don't follow the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

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><p><em>Sasuke...<em>

Sasuke Uchiha was sitting down at a dock waiting for his new partner to come, after just recently joining the Akatsuki because of orders, Orochimaru a strange man tried to take his body. This of course made Sasuke burn nearly half of his body, well he's gone now. There were only a few members for the time being but soon like Pein, the leader of the Akatsuki, said Sasuke along with two others would have to trudge down to Iwagakure and recruit this terrorist. Not fun times ahead.

Finally footsteps approached our fussy Uchiha. "My name is Kisame Hoshigaki, I'm your new partner." Kisame greeted.

Sasuke studied him, he had odd blue skin, gills, sharp teeth, and a giant bandaged up sword. "Hi." Sasuke simply said, going back to looking at the water.

"Sasuke is it? Do you have any skills?"

"I do."

"Like what?"

"I can do a lot of things."

"Like what?!" Kisame asked with a more peeved tone.

"Like make good decisions unlike you."

Kisame, now angered took out his sword, it has a name but meh. "Watch yourself boy." Kisame warned.

"Listen Kisame, when we do the crap our leader tells us to do stay out of my way, ok? I don't mean to anger you but you can handle yourself, I've heard the rumors about the tailless tailed-beast. We don't need teamwork, we need action."

"I guess you're no fun."

"Life isn't fun."

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><p>"Itachi, are you by the weasel?" Naruto asked, talking as quietly as he could into the headset.<p>

"Affirmative, approaching target." Itachi answered, crouching behind a bush, moving slowly towards the weasel.

"Good. Over and out."

"Copy that."

_Third hoakge's office..._

After the super easy D-rank mission and after getting pictures, team seven was back in the office and had their first successful mission! Though Itachi's face was full of scratches and bite marks as he handed the devil weasel to the old grandma. Who in the world would want that? You tell me.

"Itachi! Your face, what happened?" Sakura asked, getting out a pack of handy-dandy bandages.

"...I. Hate. Weasels." Itachi said in such a menacing tone.

"Third hokage! I request a higher rank mission!" Naruto requested, slamming his plans on his desk.

"...Fine. I want you escort the bridge builder Tazuna to the land of waves. This is a C-rank mission."

With that the team took off, if you would like to know it was actually a nice day. Birds chirping, sun shining, two chūnin level ninjas. Wait...Sakura got in front of the bridge builder and protected him while Naruto just froze up, he had no idea they would be here, so of course the attacker struck him with a poisonous gauntlet. Itachi already put them under a genjutsu and dealt with them easily.

"Be a little careful Naruto." Itachi scolded, noticing how he go struck with the weapon.

"Sensei! We have to go back, Naruto got struck and it was poisonous!" Sakura called out.

Naruto stuck a kunai knife in his hand to draw out the poison. "No way! I swear on this pain I'll never freeze up and back down from a fight!" Naruto pledged.

While walking to the boat Kakashi grew suspicious of the ninjas and Tazuna and everything, Itachi as well but he didn't seem to care. On the boat Tazuna fessed up and told everyone how Gatō bankrupted everyone and now the only way to rebuild his town's economy was to build a bridge but Gatō wanted to stop this so he sent a gang of ninjas to try and kill him. The real mission was to protect him while he built the bridge but like he said earlier he had not enough funds to upgrade the rank so all he could settle for was the C-rank.

Everyone looked at Kakashi to see if they were going back or not. "Tazuna, team seven will complete the mission." Kakashi huffed, they were already at the village so why turn back?

Finally arriving at the village Naruto was focused on only one goal: to out do Itachi after how he ever so smugly told him to be careful. What a loser Itachi was, suddenly Naruto then threw a kunai at the bush...it was nothing.

"Naruto! Quit scaring everyone like that!" Sakura yelled because that was nice?

"Sorry Sakura...I just thought-"

Suddenly again a scared snow rabbit hopped out of the bushes, it was nothing big really. "...Everyone duck now!" Itachi ordered, ducking down to the ground.

As everyone ducked down a large sword, flew past them just barley over their heads. The sword, now stuck in the tree held a man, shinobi more like it, missing-nin to be correct, Zabuza Momochi of Kiri to be exact. Kakashi lifted his forehead protector signifying this guy was good and revealing a sharigan, something Itachi wished he could have.

"I'm honored for you to be going all out on me." Zabuza said.

"Once I kill you, it'll make my reputation be famous." But it already is...

Next thing you know the battlefield was covered in a thick mist making the battlefield more creepy, Kakashi ordered the team to protect the bridge builder while he would fight off the Kiri ninja.

"What a pitiful attempt." Zabuza humored, appearing in the middle of the genin.

Before Kakashi could make it, Itachi spun around and punched Zabuza, it was just a water clone. The 'real' Zabuza however was behind Kakashi, *SPLASH* it was just a clone, yes folks the power of the sharigan! Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza ready to end it when suddenly yet another Zabuza appears behind Kakashi and grabbed him. The first Zabuza disappeared, despite the struggling Kakashi was thrown back into the lake.

Which was there all along. "Water prison technique!" Zabuza yelled, Kakashi reemerged from the lake with a sphere of water surrounding him.

"Everyone run! I couldn't protect myself but at least I want to ensure your safety." Kakashi instructed.

Naruto then created several shadow clones, before attacking though one of them looked at Itachi and mouthed a word to Itachi. "I never back down from a fight!" Naruto yelled and the clones began to attack.

Zabuza swung his sword around and the clones disappeared, Naruto, still behind Itachi nodded and gave him a kunai knife. "Ha! You think a kunai knife can kill me?!" Zabuza yelled. Itachi disappeared in a flock of ravens, reappearing behind Zabuza and coincidentally Itachi stuck the kunai in his back.

(This a genjutsu.) Zabuza thought to himself, releasing the jutsu but it was too late, Naruto already punched him in the face making him unable to hold the water prison technique any longer...how you say this happened? I'll tell you later.

"Naruto," Itachi stated to say looking at the spiky blonde. "That was brilliant." That one comment made Naruto grin really big.

Kakashi now free of the prison used his sharigan and had the upper hand in battle, everything Zabuza did Kakashi did the same. Kakashi was right about to finish when a random hunter-nin appeared and threw several amazing aimed senbon at his neck.

"Who are you?!" Naruto demanded.

"I am a hunter-nin set to kill Zabuza." The hunter-nin explained, picking up the body and disappearing.

"Before you ask Naruto, a hunter-nin is a ninja sent to track down and kill missing-nin, let's say another village were to kill him then they would have access to precious knowledge." Itachi explained before Naruto could open his mouth.

"Yeah whatever I'm just pissed that the hunter-nin killed him in like five seconds where we had to do all that work." Naruto complained.

"There are those who are stronger than you Naruto, stronger than me." Kakashi then fell down due to chakra exhaustion.

_Tazuna's house...next day..._

Kakashi woke up in day along with a crutch which sucked, although he didn't want to believe it Zabuza was coming back. The death was quite odd, using senbon to kill was not normal since they were used to knock people out for the most part. The hunter-nin also took the body away nearly confirming Kakashi's theory which meant...training time!

_Nice forest somewhere..._

"Ok everyone here's your first training session!" Kakashi explained, he walked up the tree crutches and all, demonstrating what they had to do. "This is a chakra control technique, all you have to do is walk up the tree, no hands."

"The trick is to focus your chakra to the soles of your feet."

Itachi and Sakura easily walked up the tree but not Naruto. "Genjutsu users and females usually do have good chakra control."

Itachi sat down on the branch he was and dozed off though he would've been training I guess it was time for a break, after several tries Naruto surprisingly walked over to Sakura. "Hey Sakura...um how do you do it?" Naruto asked.

"Ok let me tell you."

(Finally they're getting teamwork.) Kakashi thought to himself, noting Naruto's gesture.

"Sakura," Kakashi called out as he descended the tree. "go out and watch Tazuna."

"On it!"

(Argh! How is it that Itachi is always ahead of me all the time?!) Naruto thought to himself, trying to catch up to our sleepy friend.

Naruto fell back down but now this time he was determined to make it up there stepped on the trunk and ran up. It was perfect, feeling the wind in his spiky hair Naruto had a huge grin on his face, that was until he accidentally misstepped and started to fall.

A hand grabbed his arm, it was Itachi. "Itachi, I thought you were asleep?" Naruto asked, climbing up on a conveniently placed branch.

"Not when you're making all this noise...I'll help you, we can't have you weighing down our team."

"Right!"

Naruto stepped back on the trunk along with Itachi as they both ascended the tree again that was until Naruto slipped again. Itachi grabbed ahold of Naruto's arm again, this was gonna take a while...

_Night...back at Tazuna's house..._

"Those are late." Sakura sighed, eyeing the clock for it was five minutes past dinner.

Suddenly Naruto and Itachi burst through the door, finally. "Naruto and Itachi, you're finally here!" Tazuna greeted as they say down at the table.

(I need to eat as much as I can, I need the energy to train.) Itachi thought to himself as he started to rapidly eat the food.

Itachi looked up and Naruto ate the food even faster that him. "Why do you always have to compete with me Naruto?" Itachi asked.

"Because you're my rival and I can't let you always beat me!"

(...I'll give him what he wants.) ItachI started to eat faster than Naruto, then back and forth. Naruto gave Itachi a dirty look while Itachi just looked at him but in a way, like a bad way.

(I guess Itachi lost his cool for once.) Sakura thought to herself as she watched the two fight over...food.

"Hey Tazuna...what's that torn picture over there?" Sakura asked, noticing Inari, Tazuna's grandson, looking at it.

"The missing part of the picture was suppose to be Kaiza, who's Inari, my grandson's 'dad'. He used to be around my sister, Tsunami, and I a lot making him apart of the family until...let me tell you the whole story."

"My grandson used to always be bullied around a lot until a man named Kaiza came, Inari idolized Kaiza and thought of him like a real father which Kaiza then eventually adopted him as his son. One day a flood had threatened the village, nearly destroying it until Kaiza single-handedly came and closed the floodgates."

"Which earned him the title "hero". Soon Gatō came to our country, Gatō was angered by Kaiza's heroic deeds and executed him in front of everyone and it crushed the villager's hope. To this day the villagers lost hope."

"There is no such thing as a hero." Inari said, tilting his head down to only show his hat.

"Excuse me everyone but I have to continue my training." Itachi interrupted sounding as if he didn't care. "And Inari, heroes do exist, my brother is named after one." With that Ita he walked out of the door, but of course ItachI did care.

"I'll prove it to you Inari." Naruto said as well as he ran off determined as ever to train some more to prove Inari wrong.

* * *

><p>AN: It's pretty challenging to write Itachi's character actually, I know I shouldn't complain but writing off a character as mature while incorporating that he is a kid, he is wise and mature beyond his years but he shouldn't act like he's fifty years old ALWAYS serious.

And sorry if Kaiza's story wasn't detailed like it should've been...and if Kakashu's battle with Zabuza wasn't exciting enough...I honestly thought the battle was annoying with all the water clones, it got real old real fast.

Anyways like I said let me explain the trick that Naruto did think of without Itachi, why didn't I explain it in the story because I find it dumb how they find time to explain their jutsu while they're trying to fight.

Naruto created several shadow clones, one of the clones mouthed the word genjutsu, signaling that he wanted Itachi to put Zabuza under a genjustu one way or another. So Itachi created a clone of himself, transformed into Naruto and along with the group tried to attack Zabuza. Getting a good enough look at Zabuza, Itachi clone out him under a genjutsu and for those of you who say clones can't do genjutsu, clones can do rasengan even while having a in difference appearance. (proved by that episode where the stuck up noble men's daughter falls in love with Sasuke which was in the Konoha history arc) While Zabuza was under the genjutsu Itachi did his thing while Naruto ran up and punched him, BAM!


	3. Chapter 3: Changing my heart

Recap: After having a successful survival test, team 7 has their first real mission, not the stupid weasel one but a protection and escorting type one. Missing-nin Zabuza attacks but he gets defeated of course...right?

Qqqquestions?

And this is a BIG chapter folks:)

narration flashback and normal flash back are both italicized!

* * *

><p>After a vigorous night of training Itachi fell asleep at the bottom tree while Naruto was comically (kinda cute really) sleeping and yes drooling on his sleeve.<p>

"...Hello? Hm I guess you guys are still asleep." A voice said, it sounded kinda high-pitched.

Naruto suddenly awoke with a startle. "What?!...Who are you?" Naruto asked suddenly while he wiped the drool off his face.

Itachi barely opened his eyes to reveal a very beautiful "girl". She had on a flowery pink kimono along with a black choker while carrying a basket nearly half-full of herbs? Weeds?

"My name is Haku." The girl answered with a smile.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto proudly proclaimed, standing straight up.

"Itachi Uchiha." Itachi answered as well, standing up too, kinda questioning the drool on his sleeve.

"It's nice to meet the both of you!"

Itachi noticed the girl's basket, it wasn't full yet so he decided hey why not? She did wake them up. "Haku, let me help you with your task." Itachi offered.

"Thank-you very much Itachi, most of them are this way."

"Hey! I'll help too! Besides Itachi just picks all weeds!" Naruto said as he ran up to them.

Haku, Itachi, and Naruto all started to pick up some spices, plants, whatever. "Itachi! You're only picking the weeds up!" Naruto called out.

"No Naruto, Itachi's picking up the herbs, you're picking up the weeds." Haku sweetly said, unlike Sakura who would've pounded him. Naruto's face started to turn a dark shade of red as he sheepishly threw the weeds back on the ground.

"Naruto, Itachi, do you have a dream?" Haku asked.

"Being hokage is my dream!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I do have a dream." Itachi simply stated.

"My dream is to protect someone precious to me." Haku said.

"I think when you're protecting a precious, your strength is increased to its fullest." Haku explained, picking up more herbs.

"Yeah I agree!" Naruto exclaimed. (Like Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei and...) Naruto looked over at Itachi (and Itachi-weasel.)

"Thank-you both, for everything." Haku thanked as she stood up, picked up herself and started to leave. "And I'm a boy." With that Haku walked away.

*sweat drops* (Wow. He's prettier than Sakura.) Naruto thought to himself in amazement.

*smaller sweat drops* (I guess that makes sense...) Itachi thought to himself.

"All right! Come on Itachi, we got a tree to walk up!" Naruto yelled, suddenly pumped up as he threw his fist up in the air.

Finally after tons of practice it happened, Naruto was able to get at the top of tree just like Itachi. Even though it was dead at night, Itachi had the slightest smirk on his face. "Naruto, I think it's time we head back it's already nearly midnight."

"Yeah! Ok!" Naruto agreed with a huge smile on his face.

_That night back at Tazuna's..._

Itachi and Naruto burst through the door yet again but this time supporting each other. Itachi had just a few scratches on him but Naruto looked really beat up but still had a huge grin on his face.

"You're just wasting your time! Gatō will defeat you! He always does!" A very emotional and teary Inari yelled at the now peeved spiky blonde.

"That's where you're wrong, we will win. Congratulations on your crying, you brat!" Naruto replied, he left the room making everything...awkward.

"...I'm sorry Inari, Naruto didn't mean it." Itachi apologized as he left too along with Sakura.

Inari went out to the porch and started sulking, partly because of what Naruto said, partly because it was true. Kakashi slid open the screen door and sat down with Inari.  
>"Inari, like Itachi said I'm sure Naruto didn't mean what he said. Naruto just like you grew up without a father and had no mother, he suffered through such a life. Though I never seen Naruto cry, possibly because he was tired of crying instead he did other things...Naruto doesn't wanna see you cry because you two are so much alike." Kakashi explained, making Inari feel touched.<p>

_The next morning..._

Seeing how bruised up Naruto was, Kakashi decided to leave Naruto be while the rest of team seven and Tazuna left to the unfinished bridge. Once they arrived at the bridge not only were a couple of workers attacked but a thick most appeared on the bridge.

Suddenly several *surprise* Zabuza clones appeared. Itachi took out a giant shuriken and threw it at the clones, to which they just evaded it. Itachi brought the giant shuriken back destroying the clones which meant his yo-yo shuriken training paid off.

(I thought so.) Kakashi thought to himself as Zabuza and the hunter-nin appeared.

Itachi and Haku then clashed, Itachi jumped back, using genjutsu was useless with the mask on so he used his next strongest move.

"Fire release: great dragon flame technique!" Itachi yelled, fastly weaving the hand signs, a gigantic fireball dragon head came out of his mouth and burned Haku's clothes and some of his skin, yep Itachi FTW!

Haku threw several needles but of course Itachi easily dodged them all with ease.  
>(So the Uchiha brat can keep up with Haku's moves?) Zabuza thought to himself, watching the battle.<p>

(He's better than I thought, much better...) Haku thought to himself. "Demonic mirroring ice crystals!" Haku yelled, creating several ice mirrors that circled around Itachi.

"Sorry guys I had to take care of some business!" Naruto yelled, appearing on the scene and failing the sneak attack yet Naruto still managed to sneak an attack on Haku making Zabuza nearly join in.

"It's ok, I got him." Haku reassured as he slipped into the mirrors, seeing Zabuza about to step in.

"Won't be a problem." Zabuza said, agreeing to his assistant.

(Ok...with Naruto attacking from the outside I think I can-) Itachi looked back and Naruto was already in the mirrors with him.

"Ha weasel! I won't let you take all the credit!"

(Perfect.)

Naruto created several shadow clones and tried to break the mirrors while Itachi started to think of course. "Hey Itachi you baka! Your fire jutsu can melt this ice!" Naruto pointed out as he got hit with several needles, yet still being able to fight.

"I highly doubt that Naruto, this is a kekki genkai." Itachi sighed, getting hit with several needles as well.

(Those two...that has to be a kekkai genkai.) Kakashi thought to himself, he lifted his forehead protector and preceded to stop Haku himself and end this battle now.

"Sorry Kakashi your battle is with me and I already know how your sharigan works." Zabuza hissed disappearing into the mist, of course maybe I should explain the sharigan but...nah, later.

"Sakura! Protect Tazuna!" Kakashi instructed because heck knows what she was doing before hand.

Suddenly Zabuza attacked, Kakashi of course dodged but still. "You see Kakashi, my speciality is killing based only on sound." Zabuza explained, he had his eyes closed making the sharigan useless, just like that.

Zabuza ran up to Tazuna and attempted to slice him. Luckily Kakashi shielded the attack causing blood to drip from his arms...but wait wasn't Sakura suppose to protect Tazuna? (Time for another jutsu.) Kakashi thought to himself, electrically chakra charging his hand.  
>Back in the mirrors, the barrage of needles continued.<p>

"Naruto, stop exhausting yourself with the shadow clones." Itachi said, seeing time after time he kept on using them and time after time he kept on failing.

"Don't worry about me weasel because I'm never gonna give up." Naruto replied with a wide grin on his face.

(That's good Naruto, protect those who are precious to you.) Haku thought to himself.  
>Somehow Itachi started to dodge them somehow.<p>

Itachi knew this battle was going down-hill and no matter what he could think of nothing would work. Suddenly his eyes began to sting yet it felt so...good, Itachi looked at mirrors and saw Haku physically jump in and out of the mirrors just at lightning speed. Finally Itachi had the upper-hand in battle and could win but as good as that sounded there was a drawback. Being consumed by evil and hatred like so many other Uchihas just like his brother was not on his agenda but he already knew that, so now the battle between himself forcefully had to begin.

Itachi then caught the incoming needles in between his fingers. Itachi waited for Haku to jump between mirrors and hit him finally with the needles because of his newly found kekkai genkai for being in the Uchiha clan; the sharigan!

(Itachi...he has the sharigan now...) Haku thought to herself, suddenly worried, he now focused his attacks on just Naruto. Of course Naruto was exhausted from all the shadow clones he used and failed with.

"I'm sorry but I have to end this." Haku apologized, beforehand.

(He's going to attack Naruto I know it. I have to protect Naruto, it's too late.) Itachi thought to himself, he then shielded Naruto from the barrage of needles.

"...Itachi! Why did you protect me?" Naruto asked...instead of a thank-you...really.

"Because you're my teammate Naruto...you're my friend." Itachi said though he did do one thing that was genius. He stuck Haku, with several shuriken, how? Earlier Itachi had turned several shuriken into needles and stuck in his back to lower suspicion. Once Itachi jumped in to protect Naruto, Itachi threw the needles, changing it back to shuriken once it touched Haku's body, yeah. Awesome.

"I won't die yet. Not until I-" With all the blood loss Itachi fell into Naruto's arms. Possibly unconscious but let's just call him dead for now.

(Itachi really is good.) Haku thought to himself, he had several shurikens sticking in his stomach somehow. "Naruto...is this the first experiencing death?" Haku asked.

Naruto's blood heated up, he felt fangs grow, claws emerge, and his wounds began to heal. A mysterious colored chakra cloaked him, almost like a fox figure.  
>(This chakra...feels evil.) Haku thought to herself, utterly horrified by what the once sweet Naruto had changed himself into.<p>

Kakashi and Zabuza both sensed a new chakra. A different chakra, that concerned them both...well just Kakashi. (That can't be Kakashi's chakra, this chakra feels way to powerful possibly tailed-beast powerful.) Zabuza thought to himself.

(The nine-tails chakra, what if it gets out of control...) Kakashi thought to himself as he pulled out a scroll, smeared with blood.  
>"It's over Zabuza." Kakashi announced to Zabuza?<p>

Naruto, now fox-like, swung his chakra tail somehow hurting Haku. Haku threw several needles at it but just a mighty roar reflected the attack. This time Haku went front on and decided to shinobi-style punch Naruto. Naruto dodged the attack, he extended his chakra hand and grabbed Haku and punched him. Haku flew through one of the mirrors, breaking one yet breaking them all since the seal was broken.

Haku landed down on the ground, hard, making his mask started to crack and soon break. Naruto rushed to him to finish him once and for all when the mask cracked off at the perfect time. It was Haku, just barely away from his face Naruto started to cool down.  
>Losing the oh so powerful fox cloak, Naruto remembered him as the boy with the weeds, and, and the herbs.<p>

"Why are you sparing me?" Haku asked, his answer: a baby punch in the face.

"I failed my master Naruto, I'm useless nothing more than a broken tool. I couldn't protect Zabuza, my precious one and now I am nothing. All I have left is to die now." Haku explained, still lying down on the cold bridge.

"Why would you want to die?" Naruto asked.

"From the time I was born, I've always been of no use to anyone...except for one..."

* * *

><p>flashback...<p>

_In my small village of the land of water a war broke out, after the war people possessing a kekkai genkai was feared and hated for their reminder of war. My family was once peaceful but my mother hid a secret for she possessed a kekkai genaki but she hid it from my father to keep the family loving until the end of time._

Haku was sitting by the river bed, he was suppose to be picking up water but seeing a cute bunny sipping water seemed to catch his interest a bit more. "Such a cute bunny!" Haku gushed, suddenly a duck drove past by it and water was about to splash on the poor thing because as you know water and oily fur DON'T MIX.

Haku was suddenly able to manipulate the water, letting the bunny hop away, dry. Haku, now excited quickly filled the pail and decided to show his mom.

_After discovering my ability to manipulate water I decided to show my mom...once I did however she shouted at me and slapped me, unknowingly my father saw this all and gathered up a small mob to kill my mother and I._

"I'm sorry my love..." Haku's dad apologized, tears falling from his eyes as he struck his wife, eventually killing her...wow. What. A. Bastard.

_They attempted to kill me next but maybe out of fear, maybe out of anger I created several large ice spikes and killed them all, even my father. I ran away from my village, never to see them again. After that no one wanted me, I was not needed and that was the worst feeling I've ever experienced. _

Haku sat down, after having to fight for food with these mean, not loyal dogs Haku was tired and cold of course but mostly tired. "...Winters coming." Haku softly said to himself.

A younger not missing-nin (I guess) Zabuza walked up to the boy. He looked deepeed into his eyes and saw himself in them...his young self who had to kill his classmates his self he wished so dearly to forget. As the days grew colder Zabuza asked the boy a question he would never regret.

"Boy, what's your name?" Zabuza asked one day.

"Haku."

"Come with me Haku and be my weapon."

_That day when master-Zabuza asked me to come with him I felt needed again and I joyfully acepted. Master-Zabuza made me useful, made me have a purpose and for that he is to this day my precious one I wish to protect. _

_During our travels and training I met many people, one I felt so sorry for but having not the same eyes as my mater we continued. Though one boy I've met before not too long ago had challenged me to a fight and since that day he was the first one to ever defeat me in a fight. I don't remember his name but he kinda looked like Itachi...since he's defeated me Zabuza has pushed me even farther and trained me even harder and I'm grateful._

* * *

><p>"Now that you've defeated me I'm nothing but a broken tool." Haku finally finished.<p>

(...Who looks like Itachi?) Naruto thought to himself.

With the stained scroll Kakashi summoned his way cool ninja dogs who restrained Zabuza by play biting his limbs instead of just ripping him to pieces. "How did you?" Zabuza asked, to which of course Kakashi was gonna answer to.

"I only let you injure me only so I could track your scent."

"My dogs are only toying with you," Kakashi hand suddenly started to glow with electricity. "This will be the end, for real." Kakashi charged at Zabuza with his famous move; the lightning cutter...though why the dogs didn't just end Zabuza now is beyond me.

_Naruto and Haku again..._

"Besides I did kill your friend, Itachi." Haku pointed out, making Naruto upset again.

"Do you truly want this?" Naruto asked as he got out a kunai knife.

"I really do."

"We could've been friends in a different situation Haku but I guess this is it." Naruto sighed then made up his mind, if this was what the guy truly wanted then this is what the guy truly wanted. Naruto charged at Naruto with his kunai but at the second got stopped.

"Wait, I'm sorry Naruto. I don't want to die just yet." Haku said, stopping the kunai with his bare hands making him bleed profusely.

Kakashi charged at Zabuza with his famous, like I said, LIGHTNING CUTTER! Mirrors started to appear around Zabuza as Kakashi's footsteps progressed even further to his to his target. The cutter had finally made contact with the flesh! Though the dogs had disappeared (somehow...by random needles...) at least Zabuza finally died! Right...?

Kakashi looked and saw that he'd actually impaled straight through Haku and with all his might was able to stop Kakashi from killing Zabuza.

_Back at the village..._

(Thank-you Naruto for saving my mom. Now I'll save you.) Inari though to himself as he knocked the door to which it opened. "Would you like to join the rally to defeat Gatō?" Inari asked this old-ish man.

"No kid, go back home."

Door after door Inari got the same answer: no. The villagers had lost hope just like he once did and now what?

"Please just help me!" Inari pleaded to the last house in the village.

"That's impossible, Gatō always wins. Why would you want to go against that?" The woman asked, looking miserable.

"I just wanted to protect everyone I love...since crying isn't going to help anyone." Inari replied, saddened he went back home to a worried mother.

As soon as Inari stepped foot in his house, his mother was there, pleading for him not to go. "Please don't go Inari! Please!" His mother pleaded, tears begging to come out of her eyes.

"I'm Kaiza's son mom, I have to fight and be a hero." Inari insisted, he stepped out of the house and decided to just go alone though what he saw wasn't what he expected.

_Bridge again..._

(What happened to Haku?) Naruto asked him self, he picked up his kunai and tried to find his long-lost friend in the now fading mist.

Naruto kept on running and running until he saw something horrible. It was Haku and Kakashi's arm was straight through his body.

(Good Haku.) Zabuza thought to himself, he pulled out his sword and attempted to slice Kakashi but of course our favorite sliver-haired jounin jumped away...while carrying the dead body.

Kakashi took his hand out of Haku's body and laid him on the ground. "Naruto stay out of this." Kakashi ordered.

Sakura, apparently walked up to Naruto, not seeing Itachi Sakura asked where he was. Naruto nodded his head and looked away, Sakura nodded her head and escorted Tazuna to find Itachi herself. Sakura finally found Itachi lying on the ground covered with needles and blood and scratches and everything.

"Itachi..." Sakura started to say, looking at the cold body.

"I was always the best student in our class. At least second best and I know the very first rule to being a shinobi." Sakura started to say...if Tazuna was listening.

Tears dropped down on Itachi. "And it's: shinobi's never show their feelings." Sakura broke down and cried, breaking the rules which she'll do regardless anyways.

Zabuza and Kakashi started to clash, lightning cutter to blade sorta fight. Kakashi knocked back Zabuza every single time and even managed to strike his arm. Zabuza used his one good arm and held up his blade to attack, Kakashi knocked him back again with just a kunai and for an added bonus struck his good arm making both of his arms...useless.

The blade dropped and to this day will never be picked up again...well it will but it's nice to think it won't. Seeing how Zabuza is basically useless Gatō and his gang arrived to take matters into their own hands and kill Tazuna by themselves. With that being said Zabuza and Kakashi no longer fought with each other since it's just stupid.

"I thought that would happen...Zabuza killing Haku because of earlier." Gatō said out loud, seeing Haku's cold lifeless body.

"How dare you!" Naruto yelled, at of course Zabuza not Gatō.

"You were precious to Haku and then you just...just threw him away like that?!" Naruto asked.

"Haku was just a tool and he fulfilled my-"

"You don't treat others like objects! Haku was never your tool!"

"Haku died believing he was tool. Never anymore than just an object for your use," Naruto said a bit more quietly. "Haku's dream...his dream was to protect your disgusting self. That was his life you monster."

"..."

"Why?"

Tears rolled down Zabuza's face, truly touched by his words. Uttering the words, "You're right Naruto." Zabuza decided his new fate, not Gatō.

* * *

><p>Flashback...<p>

_"Haku hurry up, put that thing down." Zabuza ordered, walking up the soggy hill._

_Haku sadly dropped the brown rabbit and let it hop away, in front of Zabuza. *sighs* "Fine kid, play with it." Zabuza sighed._

_Training..._

_Haku practiced throwing needles at the...live...targets. Hitting each one of them perfectly._

_Zabuza came over and inspected the target. "Haku you're too nice. You hit them  
>in all the wrong places, I know you have good aim." Zabuza pointed out as he took out the needles from their bodies.<em>

_"I'm sorry master-Zabuza...next time I'll kill them."_

_"...you better."_

_Perfectly executing all of Zabuza's task and completing his goals, Haku truly was Zabuza's ultimate weapon._

* * *

><p>Zabuza tore off his bandages revealing a chiseled face and sharp teeth. "Yeah that's right I'm not a demon. Blonde kid give me a kunai." Zabuza instructed.<p>

Naruto handed him a kunai to which he clamped it in his mouth and charged at the gang. With Zabuza killing many the gang of course fought back, stabbing him like crazy but through the pain his goal was clear: kill Gatō.

"There's only one place demons like you and me go to," Zabuza started to say, approaching Gatō quickly.

"What're you going to-" Gatō stated to say, utterly horrified, well duh the answer was clear.

"We're going to HELL!" Zabuza screamed, he stuck the kunai in his stomach making everything splatter with blood, Gatō fell down into the river and thankfully drowned...thankfully.

"Thank-you Haku." Zabuza said, with the last of his energy he fell down.

_Sakura and Itachi..._

"...Sakura?" Itachi asked hoarsely, half opening his eyes revealing a face full of pink.

"ITACHI!" Sakura squealed, squeezing the life out of Itachi.

"Sakura, what happened to Haku?" Itachi asked, apparently all ready figuring out who Haku was and still letting Sakura still hug him...why is beyond me.

"Kakashi-sensei killed him."

"...Haku didn't mean to kill me nor Naruto, Sakura. Otherwise I would've been dead but...Zabuza is still alive and...that gang..."

"And Sakura, it would be nice if you stopped hugging me." Itachi added.

Sakura let go if Itachi and Itachi did Naruto's thing: multi-shadow clone jutsu! With a hundred Itachi around, the gang would be no match against the mighty sharigan. Itachi still nearly exhausted, nearly fell down to the ground before he caught himself.

"Itachi! Your chakra is nearly depleted so be careful." Sakura warned.

"That'll be a problem Sakura."

With Gatō dead thankfully, Gatō's team had no cha-chang. So attacking the town had to be good enough, as the gang started to charge an arrow landed right in front of them.

"We're coming to save ya' guys!" Inari yelled, he along with the whole town population had weapons and armor and were prepared to attack.

With Itachi's shadow clones along with them and of course a few of show-off Naruto they had a chance. The gang, intimated by just their sheer numbers ran away and boarded their boat.

Kakashi walked up to the almost dead Zabuza. "I would like to see Haku again one last time...please."

"Of course." Kakashi complied picked up the body and laid it next to Haku.

Light snow planted on Zabuza and Haku. "Are you crying, Haku? You've always been by my side and now I will return your favor."

"I'm sorry for treating you the way I did, I wish you knew that I don't think of you as a tool."

With his last words Zabuza stated the truth, his desire. "I also wish, oh how I wish I could go to where you're going."

"You will be with Haku in death, I know you two will be going to the same place." Kakashi remarked.

* * *

><p>After the burial of Zabuza and Haku, Naruto decided and forever will he never let anyone tell him how to live his life. Witnessing how Haku went down, Naruto smiled and went down to the bridge where the rest of his team were waiting along with Tazuna and Inari.<p>

"Thank you team seven for completing the mission and saving our village." Tazuna thanked, feeling sad they were already leaving.

Naruto looked at Inari who looked like he was about to burst into tears. "It's ok to cry Inari, as long as they're happy tears." Naruto said.

"I'm not gonna cry!" Inari replied but you know, he was.

"Yeah well me neither!"

As both Naruto and Inari walked away they both broke into a waterfall of tears. "Idoits." Sakura sighed because that was nice?

Disappearing into the distance, Tazuna thought up of the perfect name. "This bridge is going to be called the great weasel-Naruto bridge." Tazuna announced.

"For Naruto helping my son earn his strength and Itachi protecting us." But what about Sakura? Oh well.

"Yeah ok!" Inari exclaimed and he ran off to tell the village.

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry guys I didn't get to the part I wanted but at least this arc is FINISHED! Start your engines folks! Chūnin exams begin next chapter! The boring part but...but...still a part.

**Note! **So far the plot has stayed fairly consistent with the real thing, yeah that about to change, big time.


	4. Chapter 4: Start your engines!

**Recap: **Itachi awakens his sharigan which begins everything. Land of waves arc happnend, Haku and Zabuza died. New bridge, people are happy, etc...yeah I know the recap isn't fabulous but whatever:/

* * *

><p>It was another beautiful morning, as Itachi got ready and did his daily morning routine his sensei: Kakashi was at some meeting along with all the other jounin. Itachi took a look at his portrait of team 7, he of course had an annoyed face while Naruto intensely glared at him. Sakura on the other hand was over excited, smiling and acting cute while Kakashi was just Kakashi as usual.<p>

(...the chūnin exams are soon aren't they? Right after that mission, my team needs a break.) Itachi thought to himself as he got dressed while looking at his calendar.

Itachi stepped out of his house and walked over to the meeting place where there were suppose to be. After getting gifts rained down on him his backpack was full once he finally got to his team.

"Hey weasel, what's in there?" Naruto asked.

"Just things." Itachi answered without looking at him.

Finally Kakashi appeared and explained to them their mission: walk some dogs...yay. Day after day it was boring D-rank mission after boring D-rank mission and let me tell you that sucked. And unfortunately more one-sided romance including failed attempts from Naruto to get Sakura to notice him and failed attempts to get Itachi to notice her but I'm sure he knows.

With no mission today Itachi decided he should take a nice walk for once, it's been a while since he has and being cooped up in his house kinda started to get boring. Itachi started walk in the alley lined with a nice brown fence and a nice tree, well it was nice.

"Konohamaru, stop following me." Itachi said suddenly, even before the slightest of movement.

Konohamaru, apparently camouflaged by a box revealed himself along with others. "Wow boss! You could tell we were here even without us moving!" Konohamaru exclaimed.

"SNEAK ATTACK!" A voice boomed, Naruto appeared over the fence to try and tackle Itachi but he simply moved over.

"...ow." Naruto muttered, he profusely started to rub his sore spot where meanie Itachi made him land.

"Hey! Ex-boss Naruto!" Konohamaru greeted.

"Ex-boss?"

"Yeah. Itachi is cooler than you."

Naruto got up and started to tackle Itachi again but Itachi simply out his hand out, stopping Naruto like a boss. "ITACHI-teme!" Naruto yelled.

"Hey boss and ex! These are my friends Udon and Moegi! We're becoming ninja just like you!"

"Well that's really-" Itachi started to say before Moegi started squeezing him.

"Itachi! You're better than I imagined!" Moegi squealed.

(...ugh. Itachi seems to be a magnet for girls.) Naruto thought to himself.

"And I've read so much about you." Udon stated, even if it didn't matter...

Sakura just happened to be walking by and saw a young girl was hugging Itachi and not her. "Hey hands-" Sakura started to say as she walked over to them.

"Sakura! I'm so glad you're here!" Naruto exclaimed.

"...oh I see. I would think miss pink hair would go for boss but I guess Naruto has some smooth moves." Konohamaru congratulated.

"...what?" Sakura asked.

"...oh yeah. I'm mister charismatic."

(CHA! Now I get what those clowns are saying!) Sakura then went up and punched Naruto because that was nice? "You're next Konohamaru." Sakura hissed, glaring at him like a demon.

"Yikes!" Konohamaru ran away and of course Sakura chased him, not looking where he was going Konohamaru accidentally ran into a guy...an unfamiliar shinobi with a giant thing behind his back.

"Oh sorry I-"

The shinobi picked him up by his shirt collar. "Kid. What the hell do you think you're doing?" He asked.

"Kankurō stop, he's just a kid." The girl behind him scolded..she held a large fan behind her back and a forehead protector that signified she was a ninja as well.

Kankurō grinned and clung the collar tighter. "Heh, I don't care."

"Konohamaru!" Moegi and Udon yelled, tears poured through Moegi's eyes while snot dribbled down Udon's lips. It was horrific.

Kankurō started to pull back his arm. "Won't this be-" Kankurō felt a stabbing pain through his back, he looked back and saw that the quiet kid wearing the dark gray collar had struck him straight through his back.

"How did...oh I get it."

Releasing the genjutsu Kankurō set down the bandaged thing behind his back, that was until he stopped by not the fan-girl but this time the other guy. The guy held a giant hours behind his back along with a mess of red-hair.

Third hokage's office...

"As you may know the chūnin exams are coming up," Third hokage began, sitting quite perfectly at his desk as he blew smoke. "Kurenai Yūhi, Asuma Sarutobi, and Kakashi Hatake, speak up now if you do or do not want to enter your genin to the chūnin exams."

Asuma spoke up first. "Team 8's: Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi are all qualified for the chūnin exams."

Next it was Kurenai. "Team 10's: Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzaka, and Shino Aburame are all qualified for the chūnin exams."

Finally Kakashi, Iruka looked at him with a grim look but Kakashi ignored it and spoke up anyways. "Team 7's: Naruto Uzumaki, Itachi Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno are all qualified in the chūnin exams."

"...what no!" Iruka interrupted.

"I taught each and every one of these and Naru-I mean everyone is not ready for the exams it's too early and they just became genin." Iruka continued.

"Iruka, I can understand how you feel but they are no longer your students. They're ours." Kakashi abruptly stated.

Everyone looked up at the tree branch, miraculously the no-eyebrow shinobi was able to get up there somehow. "We are sorry for any trouble." The shinobi apologized instead of I don't know...killing.

"May I ask what your name is?" Itachi asked, noticing first hand that Garra got there so quietly.

"Yep. My name is Temari." Temari introduced.

"No. I mean the one up in the tree."

"My name is Garra. What's your name?" Garra asked.

"Itachi."

Garra glanced at Itachi, he had an odd name but he looked serious. (Impressive. Putting Kankūro under a genjutsu. He could've killed him if he wanted.) Gaara thought to himself.

(Garra, he must be a great sand ninja. Getting up the tree like that without making a sound.) Itachi thought to himself.

Sakura noticed their forehead protector, which weren't on their foreheads but whatever. "Hey! You guys aren't suppose to be here! You guys are from the Suna! It's true Suna is an ally of Konoha but you can't just come in here like that!" Sakura pointed out, she stole a glance from Itachi, she hoped he would look proud but he looked as plain as always.

Temari humored her remark and took out a license proving her wrong. "We are actually for the chūnin exams."

"Before you ask Naruto, the chūnin exams are a series of selection test to see whether or whether not you'll advanced from a genin to a chūnin." Itachi explained.

"Exactly. That's why we're here." The sand-nin then walked off to do whatever.

_The day after..._

Team 7 was rounded up once again, not another mission like everyone expected but a question was more like it. A beautiful day yesterday of course this time it was a chilled windy day but hey still blue skies and still no clouds.

"As you may know the Chūnin exams are here. You have till tomorrow to decide wether or wether not you would like to part-" Kakashi began explaining.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world! Because being-" Naruto cutoff, pumping his fist up in the air full of excitement.

"Hokage is your dream. We get it Naruto." Kakashi recited.

(This should be interesting. I can only think what the Jounin exams might be like.) Itachi thought to himself, having a small smirk on his face.

(But what've I done except for standing around with a kunai in my hand?) Sakura wondered and the answer to that question is nothing.

Sakura walked home alone. Did she have chance? Would she jeopardize the team? Was she strong enough? What talents did she even posses...nothing. She had no jutsu unlike everyone else which meant she had to work hard.

Lost in her train of thought she had no idea her biggest crush was there, like right there with her. "Itachi!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Sakura. Forget the chūnin exams." Itachi plainly yet coldly stated.

"Wha-why?"

"You're too weak and useless. You wouldn't last a second at that place." Itachi once again stated, his tone was so spiteful.

"Itachi...why are you telling me this?" Sakura asked as if the words that spat out of his mouth were just lies.

"Because you'll slow down our team. And...I really...hate you."

"...no. Even if he didn't feel the same way I fell for him I know he wants us to be a team. Itachi would never leave me!" Sakura yelled, she punched Itachi and it dissapered...'twas just a clone.

_The next day..._

Itachi, Sakura, and Naruto all were at the sign-up center. For the chūnin exams of course. Well here we go again!

*gulp* (I guess the chūnin exams begin here.) Naruto thought to himself, he was wrong since there were trials, so many trails and procedures before the stinkin' thing even started but it's nice to think the latter.

Once Kakashi finally opened the door the genin walked through, to see...two bullies bullying some genin...of course.

"Hey losers!" One of them taunted.

"Will you stop?!" The girl yelled, she looked familiar but...

"You heard her." Itachi said out loud to the bullies. "Stop."

The bully made a mistake by looking at him which was just what Itachi wanted. "Oh yeah? What's mister hot-shot gonna do about it?" The bully challenged.

"Nothing I suppose. I don't want to start a fight."

"Heh. That's not above me." The bully ran up to him and tried to punch him but it went straight through, a flock of ravens dispersed, while Itachi disappeared.

"Release!" The bully yelled, finally in the real world he realized he was pinned down by a couple of shurikens.

"...next time get better disguises." Itachi said, quite obvious of course he knew who they were but still challenged them.

"You punk!" The other bully yelled as he ran towards him, obviously not making the same mistake as his friend.

"Wait! Everyone stop!" One of the two victims yelled, he wore a green jumpsuit...body suit and had a bowl style haircuts but the only thing that stood out was those bushy-bushy eyebrows.

Bushy brows guy took a look at Sakura and instantly fell in love. "You! Will you be my girlfriend? My heart burns for you!"

"Ugh. No way!" Sakura replied, she grabbed Itachi's and Naruto's wrist and dragged them away.

After they left another guy came in. He had the same eyes as another person and kinda looked similar to that other person too. "Let's go." The guy ordered.

"Yeah..." Bushy brows guy started to stray off. "I'll catch up with you."

Finally just one door away from the registration center the team started to walk down the stairs and head for the door. It was a quite large polished-brown room to begin with but nothing extra. Or that was until a certain someone crashed the party.

"My name is Rock Lee! What is yours?" Rock Lee asked, appearing suddenly he was about to start something bad.

"Itachi."

(...Itachi...Itachi) "ITACHI! I challenge you right here and now!" Rock Lee yelled, he had on bandages wrapped around his arms and orange leg warmers. (later known as weights) He jumped down and got in a fighting pose.

"Ok. I accept."

Without warning Rock Lee ran up ahead and decided to a sweep kick, Itachi easily blocked that with arm. (well it looked easy) Itachi stood back a little and started to weave hand signs to a new jutsu.

"Fire release: Great fireball technique!" Itachi yelled, a gigantic fireball shot out of Itachi's mouth but somehow Rock Lee managed to somehow dodge the attack.

Suddenly again he felt a slight presence, it was Rock Lee already behind him and already somehow kicked him. Before Itachi could defend he already took the kick's blow, there wasn't enough time to act, which meant more training in the reflexes department!

Rock Lee appeared once again and behind Itachi who was still in a daze from the last attack and kicked him again. Itachi fell down, sad I know.

"You're good Rock Lee." Itachi praised, admitting his defeat.

"Itachi! No!" Sakura cried.

"Itachi's a loser like I thought." Naruto scoffed.

"Come on Naruto...I'm not exactly that good in Taijutsu." Itachi remarked, though for some reason that didn't sound too real...oh well. We can't all win can we?

Rock Lee smiled at his victory, he thought Itachi would put a fight a bit more but seemed average. He could respect though his skills, they were almost as good as his, he should get a cookie. No..no one wants cookies.

Itachi suddenly shot out from the ground and kicked Rock Lee in the back, hard. Rock Lee now with his guard on was back in fighting mode. Itachi though with a bunch of shadow clones continuously hit him, harder every time, stronger every time, better evertime. Itachi swung back his arm to release his final blow, it's true that he certainly lacked in Taijutsu but that didn't mean he was horrible at it.

This was it. Rock Lee started to unwrap his bandages and prepare for his only trump card that Itachi certainly did not have. In fact Itachi had no trump card...well he did but that's another jutsu for another time.

Before Rock Lee could activate his move a giant turtle shell came down, four legs and a head came out. Excuse me but tortoise I mean not turtle. Lee stopped immediately and walked over to it.

"Lee! You know you're not suppose to use forbidden techniques!" The tortoise scolded, he had a forehead protector tied around his neck signifying he was a certified ninja animal, possibly summoned.

"What is that his sensei?" Naruto asked as he watched Lee talk to the talking turtle (tortoise but whatever).

*sweat drops* "He's even more weirder that I thought." Sakura sighed.

(That has to be a summoning animal, but Lee can't do ninjutsu so how could he...?) Itachi thought to himself as he slowly got himself up.

All of a sudden another guy appeared who looked nearly just like Lee only he had on the jacket and a more chiseled face. Ningame being his tattle tale self told the guy the news. With a bright and flashy yet cocky smile he surprisingly punched Lee in the face?

"...did he just..." Sakura started to say even more confused.

"I'm sorry sensei!" Lee cried while a waterfall of tears ran down his eyes.

Might Guy (which I wasn't suppose to mention his name yet but at this point, really) started to cry too as he bent down and hugged Rock Lee. "Lee! You weren't suppose too!"

Then the turtle started crying as well making a huge emotional scene but still it kinda looked weird. Guy suddenly stood up and flashed another smile again. "That's it Lee! More laps let's go!" Guy exclaimed.

Now with fire in his eyes, Lee somehow got pumped up despite crying earlier. "Yeah! Let's do it!"

"And the power of youth prevails!" With those last words the three disappeared to possibly like Guy said to do MORE laps.

After that awkward sight, Sakura ran up to squeeze Itachi. "Oh Itachi! You beat him! I never doubted you wouldn't beat him!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Well you should. Rock Lee is far more superior than me at taijustu, if he finished that jutsu I would've been dead." Itachi grimly stated.

"Itachi you're too hard on yourself! With a little bit of training-"

"For a Uchiha we...I don't need training...to get stronger prowess especially eye prowess..." Itachi looked at Naruto who was already pouting. "We...I need...to..."

"HA! Itachi-weasel is weak as always! A little elbow-grease wouldn't hurt would it? Looks like you're one helpless Uchiha!" Naruto insulted, it was just a cry though. A cry for more attention.

(helpless Uchiha) Itachi thought to himself.

* * *

><p>Flashback...<p>

Itachi stopped running, stopped being scared and returned to his house to get his questions answered. So he went back to pain, back to hell, back to Sasuke. He stood still in horror as he saw himself standing in his parents pool of blood with Sasuke just standing there. Looking down upon him.

"Why Sasuke?!" Itachi asked as tears spilled from his face, 'twas a horrible sight for just an eight year-old.

"I see you're back. Kill me. Kill me now to avenge our clan Itachi and purify it." Sasuke challenged, he had on full ANBU uniform and his face was stone cold.

Itachi clenched his fist, his face drenched with tears. "I WILL KILL YOU! That's what I promised!" Itachi yelled.

"I doubt that. I'm so ashamed that you're even standing on this earth. You are a disgrace to the Uchiha clan and I should kill you for living. You helpless Uchiha."

* * *

><p>Itachi pushed away from Sakura and started to walk off. "Helpless Naruto, is something I'm not," Itachi took a sharp glance at Naruto. "unless of course you want me to prove you wrong." Itachi threatened, he opened up the door and Sakura scurried to follow him.<p>

"Did I...did I got too far?" Naruto quietly said to himself, he hurried up to catch up with them.

Opening another door, Kakashi appeared explaining to them that if Sakura said no then they all couldn't go. Kakashi just didn't want them to pressurize her into a decision. Finally the team went in the last and final door to the examination room to take the test, hall I mean...examination hall. No test are taken just yet.

To (most of) team 7's surprise there were hundred of genin all there to take the test, some gruffy looking some scary looking. Some from the sand-village, some from the sound-village (AKA just a test subject) and some from the leaf-village as in those students...those students from Iruka's class.

"Heh, I wouldn't think they would let a billboard brow like you come." A familiar voice scoffed.

Itachi: *This is Ino. Just like Sakura she can be very...difficult to deal with at certain times but her mind-transfer jutsu is as good as her dad's.*

"INO-PIG!" Sakura growled, a vein popped out of her forehead as she intensely glared at her rival.

"Guys. Not the time and place."

Naruto: *That lazy guy is Shikamaru. I swear I don't know how he gets out of bed every morning. The only thing he isn't lazy about though is his shadow possession jutsu.*

"Stop being so...troublesome." Shikamaru sighed, he had his hands in his pockets and looked like he wanted to die.

"Yeah," *crunch* *munch* "you heard Shikmaru!" Another guy enforced.

Itachi: *Here we have is Choji. Choji is Shikamaru's best friend and eats every second he gets to build up chakra. His expansion jutsu is quite outstanding though.*

"Urgh! What's your deal? All you do is eat!" Naruto accused.

"Well, well. If it isn't whirlpool of Konoha's lackluster team 7?" Kiba asked in such an ignorant way it just makes you want to slap him. His dog: Akamaru barked with agreement.

Naruto: *As annoying as Ino is, Kiba is ten times worse. He's just as smug as Itachi and he thinks he's so fancy with that dog on his head.*

"Shut the hell up Kiba!" Naruto snapped, he glared at him straight in his smug face.

"Heh. Uzumaki your dumbass humors me."

"Hey guys, stop it ok." Shikamaru cut in.

"Oh yeah? Are you gonna whine to me again or is Choji gonna have to get his-" Kiba challenged, he was on a roll today!

"What'd you say about me?" Choji cutoff as he walked towards Kiba, he already devoured his last chip bag and was on to the next.

Someone stepped in and blocked Choji's way. "Careful." The guy muttered with his oh so cool shades.

Itachi: *And here we have Shino. Shino is amazing at his jutsu and with his bugs. Naruto thinks he's creepy and stoic but then again I guess that's why everyone forgets him.*

"What?" Choji asked, kinda creeped out.

"You could've stepped on it, that bug." Shino pointed out abad sure enough a bug crawled by.

"...weird."

"HEY! Don't you dare insult my teammate!" Kiba snapped.

"Kiba," Itachi spoke up this time after previously not talking that much. "isn't Hinata on your team?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah."

"Where is she?"

"Here." A small voice squeaked.

Naruto: *So now here's Hinata. She's alright I guess but she's like really quiet and gets super embarrassed every time I just like look at her long enough.*

"H-hi Naruto." Hinata shyly mumbled.

"Oh hi Hinata!"

Hinata started to blush of course. "H-how are y-yo-" Hinata stammered as get face got redder and redder.

"Naruto stop! You're scaring her!" Kiba scolded, noticing Hinata looked pretty bad.

"NO! You are!" Naruto snapped back.

*ahem* "You shouldn't make so much commotion you know." A guy with Harry Potter glasses and a forehead protector that meant he was from the sound village. The other genin were starting to stare coldly at them. I'm telling you now. Get used to this guy. He'll appear FOREVER.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

"Kabuto Yakushi. All of you...the rookies here at the chūnin exams probably don't know how this works. I've collected info and data on most of the genin here and I have a great amount of info here."

"Really? Is this your first time?" Itachi asked, he walked over to him in order to obtain that great deal of knowledge.

"No. I've um been here quite awhile." Kabuki sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as he got out his all great and knowledge cards. "Because of that though. I've obtained these cards."

"What are these?" Itachi asked but like he just said they were cards.

"Chakra cards. Let me explain, you see..." Kabuto explained but they're only shown once so why explain it?

"Ok. Look up Gaara."

Kabuto looked through his cards and pulled out a blank card. He activated and had a tiny image of Gaara and his stats. "...!...Good. Now Rock Lee." Itachi instructed, he picked up the card and stuffed it in his light tan shorts.

Doing the same thing for Gaara he pulled out a card and activated it. "...as I expected. Thanks Kabuto."

"This year's chūnin exams are extra rough this year." Kabuto sighed as he put his deck back. "You guys shouldn't be making a bad first impression." Kabuto warned.

"Yeah well I'm gonna beat every one of you!" Naruto yelled as he pumped up his fist in the air.

* * *

><p>AN: took a while didn't it? Well you can now see Itachi's flaws...which may be worse than Sasuke's or maybe not.

I did put a poll in and I don't own Harry Potter for that reference!

update will be next week at latest!


	5. Chapter 5: Ready, set, GO! Exams begin!

**Recap: **Team 7 signs up for the exams but things never go as planned, Itachi beats Rock Lee and the entire Rookie 9 ninja come in on the scene. Kabuto makes his first appearance, (get used to him folks) and gives Itachi some trading cards.

* * *

><p>After that comment people got angry especially a group of shinobi from Oto at Kabuto underselling out to Konoha instead of them. Then things got messy as a fight broke out. A couple of shinobi proctors settle things down, the main proctor then finally appeared.<p>

"My name is Morino Ibiki and your exams begin now." Ibiki announced, he got out papers but...wait a written test?!

"We're having a written test." Ibiki continued.

*sweat drops* "I thought it was gonna be an all out battle, I didn't know we had to a written test." Naruto panicked, he looked over at Sakura, he would sit by her.

Naruto grinned. (Perfect! I'll sit by Sakura-chan then I'll copy and then I'll pass!)

"With assigned seats."

(Damn)

After settling down everyone and placing everyone in their seats he handed the test out then explained the rules. "To pass the written test you must answer all ten questions within the half hour time limit. No asking questions. Most importantly no cheating. If we catch you cheating five times your entire team will be disqualified. If anyone of your members fail the test your entire team is disqualified as well." Ibiki explained.

(Naruto...of course.) Sakura thought to herself.

(Interesting rules.) Itachi thought and they were kinda odd rules.

Ibiki held out a timer. "Begin."

(these questions are interesting...) Itachi eye's shifted to the person next to him, the shinobi were intensely watching him. Using his sharigan he copied the movements of someone's pencil and got the answers down.

(THESE QUESTIONS ARE CRAZY HARD!) Naruto thought to himself, he couldn't answer any of the questions cause first off they were dumb and second off hard.

Sakura however used her brains to answer these questions that an average genin would have trouble on. Completely missing the fact that Ibiki tried to compse. (nearly) Everyone here was using their talents to cheat.

Everyone that is except Hinata, Sakura, and Naruto. Soon more and more people left, they got caught five times. The clock was ticking and sweat dropped down and splashed on his paper. What was he gonna do?!

"Hey Naruto." A small voice whispered.

Naruto looked over to see a sweaty (slightly red) Hinata was handing him her paper in order to cheat. Naruto started to reach over then he stopped. "No Hinata, you could get disqualified." Naruto said, he turned his paper to the back, the tenth question was gone.

(I'll do the tenth question then. Hopefully it won't be hard...) Naruto thought to himself as more and more shinobi got disqualified.

Ibiki cleared his throat and stood up. "As you know there are only nine questions, I'll tell you the tenth question, before you do however if you get this question wrong you'll be disqualified and you'll never be able to participate in the chūnin exams."

"Leave now if you wish." Some people who were too scared left, yeah that sucks too.

(...Naruto won't drop out will he?) Sakura thought to herself as she looked at a confident spiky blonde.

(I have to drop out them so we'll all have that chance again.)

Itachi slightly glanced at Sakura who was beginning to stand up, Sakura returned the glance. I guess the chūnin exams are done for team 7. No! Naruto stood up and slammed his hand on his desk.

"I will never ever back down and go back on my word! Even if I fail!" Naruto loudly proclaimed, inspiring others to stay as well.

"Sit down." The room was tense, the tenth question was...

"Well everyone you've all passed!" Ibiki congratulated. (how I wish that happened in real life...)

"Wait what?" Everyone asked.

"Not only have you collected shinobi info on this test but the whole point of this was to cheat, was to use your gathering intelligence skills. Especially on the tenth question, you had no idea what was coming but that's what being a chūnin is about. For a ninja's willingness to face the unknown." Ibiki explained.

"Congratu-"

Suddenly a woman just randomly appeared in the room. (you don't have to get used to this one)

"Time to start the second phase!" Wait did she just second phase...it's not over yet?

"Anko," Ibiki calmly said. "you're too early again."

*sweat drops* "Yeesh...wrong timing." Anko sighed kinda embarrassed.

"So like I said," Ibiki continued. "congratulations everyone for passing the first phase of the chūnin exams." Again there's more?

_Entrance to forest of death...really..._

Naruto read the sign to the gate entrance, it read: forest of death. "Ha! Yeah right! I'm not scared of some stupid forest of death!" Naruto loudly proclaimed.

Out of nowhere Anko just cut Naruto's cheek leaving a mark...get it? Cheekiness?! "This is the second phase of the chūnin exams where genin are to collect two scrolls, once collected you'll head down to the building in the center of the forest." Anko explained, she got out the two scrolls, one heaven one earth.

"Do not open these or else." Anko warned as she passed to everyone just one scroll and a form.

Sakura looked at the form Anko just passes out. "_Konoha_ not _responsible for death..._" Sakura read to herself.

(We have the heaven scroll now so we need to get an earth scroll.) Sakura thought.

The gates swung open when the forms were all filled out. "You may now enter!" Anko announced.

(No...there isn't an interview...) Without hesitation the genin blew through the gates and entered to a dark creepy forest. Mostly everyone scattered through the forest, team 7 however happened to be near a big tree. While everyone else were setting up traps, jumping from tree to tree that sorta stuff. All (most...) were heading towards the tower.

Team 8's Kiba was by a tree setting up a trap since he was just sly like that. "Ok...done!" Kiba said, there was a net on the ground.

A group of ninjas after being ambushed by leeches fell into their trap, leeches were everywhere in the net. "Heh-I guess you outsiders don't know about Konoha's special leeches. They first sense life forms then attack in groups. Five minutes later you'll be about dead." Kiba explained as the ninjas started screaming. Really loudly.

Not even five seconds after entering the forest Naruto felt a tingle. After that an ear-piercing scream. "Was that a human scream?" Sakura asked.

"Man I gotta take a leak." Naruto hurriedly said as he unzipped his pants...jumpsuit.

(I wouldn't mind if Itachi-kun had to do it though...) "NOT IN FRONT OF A LADY!" Sakura yelled as she whammed Naruto in the head. "DO THAT IN THE BUSHES!"

"Yowch!" Naruto yelled, he rubbed his head and disappeared into the forest.

Itachi sighed and waited for Naruto, wasting time. "Hey guys I'm back! Man I pissed so much! More than Itachi ever could! " Naruto called out as he ran up to them.

(That's not a contest...) Sakura thought to herself.

Itachi let out another sigh and punched him in the face, Itachi-style. "Itachi! I know Naruto can be really annoying but you can't kill him!" Sakura exclaimed, shocked to see such violence.

"There are many ways to count how much this imposter messed up, though one reason in fact is that he has no cut on his cheek that was given to him by Anko. Shinobi should study their target before using that jutsu. An amateur mistake."

"Did kid like you just call me...an AMATEUR?!"

"I did." Itachi answered.

The Ama-ninja released the jutsu and charged after him making the same mistake as so many other ninja. Itachi stuck a katana right in his back. Again, always with the katana, never changes.

"Release!" The ninja yelled but it was a bit to late for that, he was already somehow sinking into the ground. Sinking in lower and lower he was completely emerged under ground. Itachi jumped back on the limb of a nearby tree, it wasn't over just yet.

Suddenly the Ama-nin sprout out from the ground and just suddenly cut the limb off the tree Itachi was standing on. Itachi jumped onto another tree limb, Naruto was tied up apparently.

"Finally." Naruto said as a kunai knife dropped near him.

Itachi jumped off the limb he was on just before an explosive tag hit him, lucky him. "Dammit this guy is fast." The Ama-nin cussed, he quietly jumped back down on the ground when suddenly a kunai got him.

He looked behind him to see that Itachi stuck him. "Not bad kid." Suddenly he disappeared, it was a clone of all luck. Itachi was getting really tired of this guy, weaving hand signs he was about to finish this when suddenly a kunai knife came falling down.

"Bastard!" Naruto yelled.

Ama-nin guy propelled him self up with his fire mask, Itachi grabbed the kunai and flung it back at him in mid-air of course he dodged it but of course that was a diversion! Several Itachi clones behind him all dug kunai knives in his back. Blood splattered on Itachi's face.

"Itachi-kun..." Sakura cried, finally getting to the scene.

"Sakura not now, just calm down...this is the life of a shinobi so just calm down and listen up!"

(I shouldn't of came alone...I can't die...) Injured far too much he just retreated.

Itachi landed on the ground, his patience already was through the limit. "Sakura, Naruto, come here." Itachi said as he sat down.

"If we get separated again we're going to need a code word, if another imposter shows up. If they get the code word wrong then assume they're the enemy." Itachi explained.

"What's the code word?" Sakura asked.

"Listen carefully, I'll only say this once, when asked 'a true ninja is' the answer is..."

In the surrounding lake a particular woman from Ota wearing a conical hat was under the water. (get used to him as well...) While in a near tree a swirl appeared was it a rip in the space-time continuum? Yeah it was.

"Those that break the rules and regulations are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum."

"If I'm going to be called scum either way, I'd rather break the rules. And if that's not being a proper shinobi, then I'll destroy that idea." Itachi cited, I'm sure this sounds familiar though...from where...?

"Got it!" Sakura proudly stated.

"...What?! I can't remember that!" Naruto yelled a bit too loudly.

"How dumb are you? I already memorized." Sakura said.

Up in trees again the swirl revealed itself to be a man wearing a black outfit with leg and arm guards along with a long green scarf. (get used to this guy too...ugh) "I'll let Orochimaru weaken Itachi."

(Smart...) The other person in the water thought himself.

"We don't...this isn't the password is it?" Naruto asked.

"I'll hold the scroll from now on." Itachi answered while he got up.

Suddenly there was another cut in the opposite side of Naruto's cheek. "What the..."

There was a loud noise sound. Then there was a gust of wind. "There are more." Itachi announced.

As the dust cleared up three Ota ninjas showed their selves, one of them being the guy in the pond. (how do sound ninja control wind...?) "Have a little fun over there, I'll take care of them." Pond guy said.

Itachi was under a bush...when suddenly he heard footsteps, it was Sakura. "Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cheered, finally finding him.

"Stop. What is a true ninja?" Itachi asked, holding out a kunai knife.

"Those that break the rules and regulations are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum. If I'm going to be called scum either way, I'd rather break the rules. And if that's not being a proper shinobi_, _then I'll destroy that idea."

Itachi put away his kunai. "Very good Sakura."

Naruto just randomly appeared out of nowhere. "Hey you guys ok?" Naruto asked, running up to them.

"Stop. What is a true ninja?"

"Those that break the rules and regulations are scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum. If I'm going to be called scum either way, I'd rather break the rules! And if that's not being a proper shinobi, then I'll destroy that idea!" Naruto perfectly recited, perfectly.

As Sakura breathed a sigh of a relief Itachi threw shuriken at Naruto. "Yikes!" Naruto exclaimed as he dodged the weapons.

"Itachi-kun! Naruto told us the code word, why?!"

"It's not that hard Sakura."

Naruto creepily smiled and revealed his true form, Orochi...Pond guy I mean! "How did you know I was an imposter?"

"I already knew you were hiding in that pond so I made the code word something hard to remember for him. Naruto can't remember a...quote." Itachi explained.

"Very-good Itachi, smarter than you look. I see you're even smarter than your brother, we'll have an interesting fight."

* * *

><p><em>Sasuke...<em>

Sasuke found himself on top of a pillar, talking to the Akatsuki's leader. "Do we have to recruit him?" Sasuke asked for the last time.

"Yes. Now Sasori, Kisame, Sasuke go to Iwa. Now."

Sasuke put on his hat and went off to Iwa, to recruit a new member of the whatever corps after Oro got 'kicked out'. Fortunately it took no time since this certain HQ just happened to be by Iwagakure.

Finally by early sunset they found Deidara, making art. "You Deidara, join the Akatsuki." Sasuke demanded.

Deidara turned around, a clay spider on his hand. "And why should I, hm?" Deidara asked.

"Because I said so."

"And because the Akatsuki can protect you since we know of your terrorist bounty status." Kisame added.

"What an offer. Still don't care."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "You're going to join this damn organization whether you like it or not!"

Deidara stood up and turned around. "I will not join your group, that's not my calling. I'm going to continue on being artist because art," Deidara threw the bomb. "...is an EXPLOSION!" Deidara yelled as the bomb blew up.

Sasuke dodged that thing easily. "We'll fight then. If I win you'll join the Akatsuki."

"Very well, hm." Deidara threw another clay bomb and Sasuke this time sliced it with his katana.

Just while dodging Sasuke threw a set of shurikens and while that occurred a centipede like thing crawled out of Deidara's hand and made its way towards Sasuke. Deidara watched as the centipede spiraled around Sasuke.

Deidara just about to release the jutsu smiled. "Kat-" Deidara looked again, it was gone.

The centipede just now dropped over Deidara's feet. "Genjutsu?" Deidara asked.

Sasuke disappeared then reappeared behind Deidara's back with a katana. "Only my little brother uses genjutsu." Sasuke harshly said.

"Sasuke has the Mangekyō sharigan, so he uses kamui. A jutsu that basically allows you to teleport and control space and time. So Sasuke distracted you first with the centipede which takes less time then he teleported right behind you back." Kisame explained, so wait Sasuke uses kamui instead of I don't know maybe SUSANOOOO! Or AMATERASUUU! Well we do have one who chooses such powers...

* * *

><p>Naruto was in an awkward position laying on a pile of fallen trees. Big tee was sadly a victim of this disaster. "...ugh...oww." Naruto moaned.<p>

A loud noise startled Naruto. "...what the...?"

"...! Where's Sakura-chan and that asshole Itachi?" Naruto asked, sweat dropping. It's not like that asshole Itachi didn't just um...save your life several times or anything.

Next a huge shadow loomed over Naruto. "What no way! It's huge!" Naruto exclaimed.

A huge spotted snake that is, the snake dug it's tail into the ground then sprout back up to where Naruto was standing. Swiftly and tightly wrapping our poor Uzumaki friend into its tail. In a swift movement the snake opened it's move then gobbled Naruto up.

"...it ate me...DAMMIT LET ME OUT!" Naruto yelled, stuck inside a slimy gross throat.

_Itachi and Sakura..._

"Another Naruto imposter?" Sakura sighed, by this point she shouldn't be too surprised. (Of course duh that wasn't Naruto. He would've said 'I dunno' or something lame.)

(This guy is a creep so where is Naruto...) Sakura wondered, getting into a fighting stance.

"You want my earth scroll don't you?" Oro-Pond guy asked, holding out a scroll. "Since you have a heaven scroll." Pond guy pointed out, his long tongue showing.

"...!" Pond guy swallowed the scroll while which meant they had to kill him or wait...

(This guy...needs a bag.) Itachi thought, there's no way people can just do that...

"Now let's begin our battle. With our lives at stake." Pond guy creepily said as he showed them the whites of his eye. Itachi for the first time actually looked kinda scared, that's a first.

Suddenly there was blood and death and just random images of gruesome scenes, it was horrible and messy. Two kunai were thrown at Sakura and Itachi, piercing through Itachi's forehead protector and making blood spill out. Then it disappeared.

"This has to be genjutsu!" Itachi pointed out, releasing chakra.

Itachi intently stared at the ground for a few short moments his eyes blank, reminding him only of that day long ago. (This guy...I'm such an arrogant fool...that was a stupid move. Just glancing at his eyes brings us fear and death.) Itachi thought to himself.

Itachi barely turned his head to Sakura who was paralyzed. "...Sakura...?"

"Sakura!" (...because of me we're going to die if we don't run right now. I can't let Sakura die...and I can't let myself die here either...)

"You can't move can you?" Pond guy sinisterly asked.

(...I...I have to move...!) Itachi struggled as he threw a kunai at him.

Orochimaru caught the kunai then threw it back at Itachi, awakening his sharigan still though getting a kunai jabbed into his leg as he struggled to Sakura. To her it looked like Itachi just saved her BUT that's not the entire case.

"Smart boy." Pond guy remarked. "Using the tool to his advantage."

_Naruto..._

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Throw up already something!" Naruto screamed but the snake was like asleep.

(Crap...at this rate I'll be melted or be turned to crap if I don't get out soon...how can I make him barf?) Naruto thought to the time back at Tenzin's where he and Itachi had an eating contest...after wayyy too much food it got pretty messy.

*lightbulb* "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!" Naruto yelled. (hey I think Itachi used this move...)

So the snake exploded. Blood and guys were splattered everywhere in the forest. Pretty nasty. "Since I'm gonna be Hokage I can't be turned to some snake shit." Naruto proclaimed, hey that's quotable!

"Now time to find Sakura-chan and that weasel-Itachi!"

_Itachi and Sakura..._

Itachi and Sakura were up a tree trying to hide from Pond-guy instead of...running. "Itachi-kun! Are you-" Sakura exclaimed.

Itachi clamped his hand over her mouth, finally. "We have to run..." Itachi quietly said to himself.

(I could create some shadow clones but no...or I could...no...)

Sakura worriedly looked at Itachi, for the first time he was genuinely scared and showing some panicky emotion. (I never seen Itachi-kun never act so nervous before...!)

Sakura saw a snake silently appear, that no Itachi did not sense because he was a nervous wreck. She desperately tried moving his hand away until finally. "ITACHI-KUN! LOOK OUT!" Sakura yelled.

Itachi swiveled his head around and threw several a kunai knife at it. (I can't get so nervous like that again...)

The snake was still alive at it started chasing after Itachi, Itachi weaved several hand signs and blew a hot blast of fire at the snake. Causing a tree to die as well as the snake. Itachi landed on the opposite branch as the snake, creating a shadow clone just in case. Bursting through the snake was of course Pond-guy. Yes. This guy folks is not at genin level.

Oro-Pond guy slithered up the tree fast, acting quickly Itachi threw his clone at the snake and it weaved signs to a new fire jutsu. "Fire Release: Bed of Fire Technique!" Itachi clone yelled spewing oil on the tree trunk.

"You think oil will stop me?!" Pond guy yelled, rushing towards him.

Itachi ignited the oil then the while trunk exploded. Looks like just randomly throwing kunai wasn't the sum of it! Paper bombs FTW! As soon as the explosion occurred a familiar voice yelled as well.

"Sorry Itachi but I don't know the code word!" Naruto yelled, appearing just randomly.

"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed.

Pond guy was still alive and more slowly climbing up the bark of tree. "Good for you Naruto-kun you defeated the snake." Pond guy congratulated but going as far to say kun?

(Man this guy sure looks and acts like a snake.) Naruto thought to himself as he watched the guy slither some more.

(...What now?...What now?) Itachi asked himself.

(There's no other way around it. We're going to all die.) Itachi confirmed.

(I know how important it is to Naruto to become a chūnin but he has to live in order for that. I could give this scroll up...)

Itachi took out the scroll much to everyone's surprise. "You can have it." Itachi finally said, his sharigan, gone.

"Very smart boy."

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU ITACHI?!" Naruto yelled, he immediately jumped off the tree limb

Itachi threw the scroll but Naruto caught it. "Why the hell would you give up or scroll?" Naruto asked, beyond pissed.

Itachi took out another scroll. "I didn't. That was a fake. So we could have the chance to run or fight for the matter." Itachi explained, kinda disappointed.

"..." Naruto smiled. "That's the weasel I know! I thought you would make the dumb choice of giving him the scroll. You never know what he'll do to us no matter what."

"That was smart Itachi." Pond guy praised, flickering that tongue of his.

He lifted his sleeve showing a weird yet cool mark. "True Naruto. And since I can I'll kill you I'll just do that." Pond guy stated as he bit his finger.

Wiping the blood on his forearm Naruto ran after him. Itachi on the other hand took out a scroll and bit his finger as well. He swiped his finger on the scroll summoning...wait no...genin summoning? Meh it's possible.

Before Naruto could get to Pond guy and I guess punch him it was already too late. "Summoning jutsu!" Pond guy yellled and under his feet there was giant purple snake...I really don't like snakes.

So the snake just went in and attacked, while Naruto continuously fell and what the hell did Itachi summon? The snake burst through trees and smacked it's tail at Naruto. Naruto fell through a tree trunk and slammed on another tree trunk hard, coughing up blood.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed because yeah that's actually nice.

Itachi glanced at Naruto while he was falling down. (Wouldn't this be a perfect moment for nine tails mode?) Itachi wondered.

"You can eat him." Pond guy approved as the snake went for Naruto.

Yeah it would. Naruto's eyes changed into fox eyes and his whiskers got whiskier, it was on! "GO TO HELL!" Naruto screamed as he punched the snake's nose.

Naruto turned around just in time for Pond guy to see Naruto's eyes. "That's...it couldn't be..." Pond guy gasped but there's like eight more of him, another in this very forest.

Pond guy blew back making Naruto slam on the ground. (This is getting really fun!)

"He would've been dead without Kurama." Itachi stated, not surprised at all that this is happening.

Pond guy drove the snake towards Itachi. "Itachi-kun it's your turn to have fun with the snake!"

Itachi decided to avoid the attack by using his summoned animal like he intended, no wait that didn't happen. Too bad. (I already know Naruto can save me. I don't need to waste chakra...he's going to get a big head now...) Itachi thought to himself instead of saving himself, instead of using his summoned animal: sharigan ravens. (where did he get those?)

"Itachi-kun!" Sakura yelled as the snake sped towards him.

Naruto landed in front of the snake and pushed him away from Itachi. Just barely Naruto did save Itachi. "You ok?" Naruto asked with a grin.

"Next time be a little careful." Naruto added, he knew he just burned Itachi.

* * *

><p>AN: Long update yeah I'm sorry. Next update won't be. And I'm guessing you're starting to see some changes are you? I would think so. Yes I did leave out the scene where Oro hands Anko her kunai knife with his tongue because A that's creepy and B it serves nothing to the plot.

**Extra info!** I also completley changed the fact that Itachi isn't as scared and paranoid as Sasuke. Why? Well because I thought that was out of character. Originally I planned for Itachi to just run with the scroll but then I said, that's stupid and rash. Something Naruto would do.


	6. Chapter 6: I will protect you always

**Recap:** First phase ends in a victory for team 7 while second phase is still on going in the forest of death. We see new jutsu and new abilities from Itachi and Naruto. Sakura really does nothing, no. Let's change her fate. Sakura will do something! So anyways Pond guy is weird and tries to kill team 7. Be mindful this guy is an S-ranked villain not a genin pig.

* * *

><p>Just out of the village next to a shrine of damaged Buddha statues. "This is bad...is this like a ninjutsu?" The chūnin asked.<p>

"Three dead bodies..."

"This isn't good..."

The same chūnin with the spiky hair and bandages around his face scratched his head. "Report this to Anko-san."

_Anko..._

Anko was sitting on a wall eating dango drinking juice. (dangos are like spherical shaped dumplings, try them) "Ah nothing like eating dango and having juice. I guess I'll head down to the tower."

Anko stretched a little. "Fast ones need only about 24 hours." Then she threw sticks at a nearby tree, artistically creating the leaf symbol. Well done.

A chūnin wearing glasses appeared on the scene. "We have a problem Anko-sama!"

"Hm what is it?"

"They're bodies...three bodies..."

"What three?"

"They're very weird-looking so come on!"

Anko followed him to see that yeah there were three dead bodies. "After close examination they are all shinobi who come from the hidden grass." One of the chūnin reported.

"But their faces are gone. Blank."

(...! These jutsu are his of course...) "Give me the pictures now!" Anko snapped.

Looking at pictures she remembered that face. It was him. Orochi-Pond guy! "Go! Report this to hokage-sama! Send in some ANBU captains to the forest of death just go! This is very bad!" Anko ordered.

_Team 7 and Pond guy..._

Itachi remembered him saying those same words back at their second mission. "Naruto..."

A long tongue came down and snatched up Naruto, Pond guy's doings. "He-he so the fox brat is alive." Pond guy hissed, he weaved a sign.

Tiny flames appeared on Pond guy's fingertips. "I'm guessing when your emotions are uncontrollable the power of the nine tails over flows, nice."

Pond guy lifted his shirt. "And the seal is visible." He slammed his fingertips into Naruto's stomach.

"A five-part seal!" Itachi exclaimed.

"12 years since the seal and now their chakra are beginning to fuse. Minato's work isn't it."

Pond guy let Naruto out of his grasp but not his pack. Pond guy now had both heaven and earth scroll in possession.

"NARUTO!" Itachi yelled, he took off from the tree and caught Naruto in mid-air, landing on a tree limb. Itachi awakened his sharigan now at level two and set Naruto down. "I'm so tired of you, don't ever do that to my friend ever again!" Itachi yelled, ooo sharigan power up!

"Itachi-kun you're going down just like your brother." Pond guy stated, he got his arm out again, taking his time.

Itachi was now definitely pissed off, he was filled with rage well there's a first time for everything. "Don't you ever compare me to my brother!" Itachi yelled, he dug into his weapon bag and got out a fuma, it was on!

Itachi had one kunai left so he threw the kunai at him, sticking it right behind him. Next Itachi threw his fuma, quickly he swiveled behind the tree making the fuma twist around the tree Pond guy was on. Pond guy dodged the fuma then the fuma kept on coming back and back and back chasing him.

(That sharigan of his...)

The kunai eventually wiggled out of the tree but Itachi caught it and stuck it again. Itachi swiftly moved behind a tree, controlling the fuma from behind, finally it was time for the finishing move. He clenched the string in his mouth then weaved a couple of signs. Itachi jumped back to where Pond guy was to see him then the fuma came back at him.

(Is this the sharigan windmill triple blade...?)

Pond guy caught it in his mouth, the blade was oily then he knew. Itachi smirked and ignited the oil. He drove the fuma back and it directly hit Pond guy's head.

"YEAH GO ITACHI!" Sakura cheered, Pond guy was dead!

"To be able to use sharigan so well at this young age. You are the one." Pond guy hissed, his face melting.

He looked up scaring the hell out of everyone. "I want you."

(...I have to act fast...) A man up in trees thought to himself, the one with the mask.

"That was really fun Itachi, your eyes are greater than Sasuke's." Pond guy praised.

Itachi was shocked he couldn't move AGAIN?! "Who are you?!" Itachi asked.

"My name is Orochimaru. Pass the exams if you want to see me again." Orochimaru (finally!) burned their scroll.

"Of course there will be trials."

"What the hell?! We don't ever want to see your face ever again!" Sakura yelled.

"Tsk-tsk. Too bad. Itachi will be seeing me a lot from now on won't he?" Orochimaru asked, weaving a single hand sign.

"Sorry but you'll have to settle for Sasuke." A random voice said, a swirly portal like thing appeared in front of Itachi.

"Not you!" Orochimaru yelled, his neck speeding towards him, masked guy pushed Itachi out-of-the-way. Then Orochimaru's neck just passed straight through his body. Making Orochimaru's head slam into the tree trunk.

Masked guy touched Itachi's shoulders then disappeared. "ITACHI-KUN!" Sakura yelled but too little too late.

Itachi landed in a room, a laboratory to be exact and it was filled with glasses upon glasses of sharigan eyes. Just in case. "...Where-" Itachi struggled to say.

"Don't talk right now. My name by the way is Tobi." Tobi left the room and got a ladder.

"I couldn't get any good sharigan from the massacre but I could get these from Shisu by force."

"Shisu?! But how did you get those? I thought Danzo destroyed those." Itachi suddenly asked.

"Like I just said by force. It's a very long detailed story. Shisu intended for you to get his left and right eye since he knew Sasuke was going to destroy everyone if he had his powers. Danzo of course wanted that power. After Danzo's first attempt Shisu already decided to attempt something rash."

"Before Danzo could make another attempt to steal his eyes, he took them out, gave them to Sasuke to give to you then committed suicide. Awakening Sasuke's sharigan. Once Danzo and his men finally arrived to take Shisu's eyes Sasuke used Kamui to teleport them off to another dimension. I'm guessing Sasuke decided once you killed him then you could have the eyes."

"Of course that would take forever so I stole them away." Tobi finished explaining, I guess that cuts the retrieval arc, or does it? Now Oro is gonna really want Itachi now.

"Why didn't you transplant those into your eyes?" Itachi asked.

"Because Shisu was smart. He put a seal on them so only those free from the Uchiha curse of hatred could wield these eyes. Mastering these eyes will take countless years for you so that's why we have to start now. Don't over use these or else you will go blind, I can't do anything for you after that." Tobi walked over to Itachi, it was time.

_Forest of death..._

Sakura was paralyzed while Orochimaru still smiled and left no need to kill her. He'll get his gift soon. There was no way Tobi was going to have Itachi. Sakura started to cry, what else could she do then a miracle happened. Itachi was dropped down at Sakura. Thank goodness right after Oro left.

"ITACHI-KUN!" Sakura squealed, she grabbed Itachi and hugged him to death.

"...sa."

"I missed you so much!"

"..kura."

Itachi started to scream in pain, his eyes his body felt like complete hell. It was the worst pain he'd ever felt. "...GAHHH!" Itachi yelled, blood dropped from his eyes.

"Itachi-kun!" Sakura grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly.

More tears more screaming. "AHHHH...UH..." Sakura looked at Itachi's face, his face was covered with blood and his eyes...looked different.

"...! I...Ita...Naruto..." Sakura started to sob, Naruto was still laying on the tree limb.

"It...it's going...to be ok..." Itachi murmured, Sakura cried harder.

"Gu...AHHHH!" Itachi yelled again.

Sakura hugged Itachi that's all she could think to do.

Anko on the other hand was doing something, fighting Orochimaru, her old sensei. Poor her. After a clash with Orochimaru and a sudden attempt to kill them both Anko was barely alive. "Have you come to kill the hokage?" Anko struggled to ask.

"No not yet. I've come to give this kid the curse mark."

"...I failed though."

"Hm? Failed? Did he die? Having only a ten percent chance I think he would've."

"No. It was Tobi who took the kid away, I do intended on giving him that curse mark. I'm keeping that kid."

"You must really like that kid don't you?" Anko asked.

"With his genuis powers and his beautiful face I love him." Orochimaru explained, licking his face for no reason.

"...That boy must be amazing..." Anko said amazed. (he can't get the curse mark or else it will be over)

Orochimaru stood up. "Just don't end the exams right now."

"Or the cause of Konoha's destruction will certainly be by me." Then Orochimaru FINALLY disappeared.

" ..."

_Rock Lee's team..._

Neji, Tenten, and Lee where resting up in a tree. Lee and Tenten where eating dome food drinking some water. (I wasn't suppose to say their names but it's a lot easier this way) "In less than an hour the sun should be up, since we've gathered our supplies let's attack now as planned." Neji stated, he dropped a kunai knife on the ground.

"We meet back in 30 minutes."

"Got it!" Tenten affirmed.

"Roger that!" Rock Lee dittoed.

"Let's move!"

_Team 7..._

Sakura felt Itachi's forehead, he didn't have that much of a fever but he was still in pain. As well as Naruto. (Itachi is still breathing heavy but thanks to this rag his fever has calmed down and the blood has stopped as well.)

"...u...gh..." Itachi mumbled.

(I must protect them both!)

Three weird sound ninja watched them: Dosu Kinuta, Zaku Abumi, and Kin Tsuchi. Their leader was Dosu. "As Orochimaru-sama ordered we'll attack our target: Uchiha Itachi at daybreak, we'll capture him and bring him in." Dosu explained.

"And the others, kill them if needed?" Zaku asked.

"Of course."

_The next day...morning..._

Sakura poured cool water on the rag then squeezed it out. She placed the rag on Itachi who was doing better. Sakura eyes felt heavy, she was up all night taking care of these fools. "...I can't fall asleep."

Sakura sighed, the sun was up already. Great. Next thing she heated was a little skitter-skitter. Sakura shakily held out her kunai knife then slowly turned around. It was just a stupid squirrel.

*sigh* "Yeesh squirrel don't scare me like that."

The squirrel continued to scamper towards Sakura. "Oh no!" Sakura gasped, she threw the kunai at the squirrel then it ran off. "Too close."

"Ah so she noticed the explosive tag did she?" Zaku asked.

"No...that's not it." Dosu said.

"What? What do you mean?"

"We'll see then. Let's go."

Rock Lee was singing on branches, jumping off from tree trunk to tree trunk. That was until he landed of a branch with leaves. The leaves started to fall off. (Yes! If I can catch all 20 leaves then Sakura-chan will like me, if I miss just one of them then it will remain unrequited love and she'll call me bushy brows.)

Lee jumped off the branch, full with passion. "YAAAAA!"

Random narrator: Lee has a bad habit of making up his own training rules that are usually really hard on him.

Lee swiftly caught all 19, wait there's 20. Just as the last one was about to fall in his hands he hit his back on a tree limb. Ow. "Just one more..." The leaf started to fall.

"Come on! Come on!" Lee fell off and tried to catch the leaf.

Right out of nowhere a squirrel landed on the ground, it had an explosive tag on its back. There was an explosion. After the dust cleared it was Lee holding a squirrel, who almost died. "That was close." Lee sighed. "...who would do something so horrible?" The leaf fell down on the ground...

Neji was walking around there was a rustling in the bushes. (Damn we sure did hide fast!) Ino thought to herself as team 10 hid behind a bush.

"Come out!" Neji demanded.

(I didn't think hide behind a bush was gonna work so time for flattery.) Ino quickly thought.

(This is such a drag but it could've been worse...)

Team 10 jumped out of the bushes. "Wow! What luck! I didn't think we would meet last year's top rookie Hyuga Neji-sama!" Ino gushed.

"Can I get an autograph?!" Shikamaru asked.

"It's you..." Neji sighed.

(Now it's time for the charm!) Ino took out her ponytail holder, showing off her long blonde beautiful hair. "It would be nice to know you a bit better." Ino said in her most sexiest voice possible.

Neji turned around and walked away. "Leave."

*vein pops* "WHAT?! MY SEXY CHARM DIDN'T WORK?!" Ino yelled, pumping out a fist.

(I wonder why?) Shikamaru thought.

"DAMMIT I'M BEYOND PISSED!" Ino cussed she kinda reminds me of Sakura...nah.

Neji stopped. "Hey wait...since your pumping out your fist do you want to fight perhaps?" Neji asked.

"O-of course not!" Ino tried to coverup. (Is he like an owl or something?)

Nehi slightly turned his head. "I said leave." Neji reinforced. "Taking a scroll from you scum, that's below me." Neji scoffed, doesn't this guy remind you of Itachi? Only...meaner.

"Alright!" As fast as they came out they went back into the bushes.

"What a bunch of cowards."

"Alright then! Let's find someone weak!" Ino yelled, apparently pumped.

(Like who? A tree?) Shikamaru thought to himself again.

_Team 7..._

"Up all night were you?" A creepy voice asked, Sakura swiveled her head around.

It was those sound-nin guys up in the trees. "Wake up Itachi-kun now, we want to fight him." Dosu ordered.

Sakura took out her kunai knife. "What do you mean?! I know Orochimaru is the leader, pulling the strings from behind!" Sakura yelled, the sound-nin gasped.

"Why were Itachi-kun's eyes so weird?!"

"I know that guy in the mask is one of the henchman now what did you do to him?!"

"Well we can't let you go can we?" Zaku said, no...a battle. "I'll kill you and I'll catch this little weasel of your's."

Dasu stopped Zaku. "Wait a second." Dasu examined something. "You're very bad at this aren't you? A stone with different color dirt. Countless mistakes you've made. It's a booby trap."

"..."

"It's useless unless it goes unnoticed."

"Pft...stupid. I'm guessing that's why she threw the knife at the squirrel." Zaku scoffed.

"We have no use for her now. We can kill her." Dosu stated.

As the team jumped up Sakura smirked, there was a string right by her and she cut it off. Ha-Ha! There was actually a giant log trap waiting for them, smart. Dosu placed his hand on the tree and blasted straight through the log.

"What?!" Sakura yelled, she started to panic.

"To be honest you have no talent, no jutsu, no anything. People like you have to work harder than us, you shouldn't mess with us like that." Dosu harshly stated while they were falling towards her.

"LEAF SPINNING WIND!" Rock Lee yelled, kicking them right in the face.

Rock Lee got into stance. "Then you guys should work hard as well."

"Who are you?" Dosu asked.

"The handsome green devil of the leaf, ROCK LEE!"

"Why are you here?" Sakura asked instead of saying thank you for saving my life.

"I'll protect you when you're in danger."

Lee set down the squirrel and let it run off. (It was actually because of this squirrel I found Sakura, thanks.)

"Thank you so much for saving me!" Sakura finally thanked.

"There's no need to thank me. I will protect you with my life."

"..."

"Yes! I'm awesome! Guy sensei I'm awessssome!" Lee squealed.

Dosu took out an earth scroll then threw it. "Shame. Zaku you get Itachi-kun." Dosu said.

"I'll take care of these fools."

(...I don't think Sakura-San is in any condition to fight...) Lee thought to himself, still in stance. *fun-ish fact! San is an honorific term given as a surname giving more respect than just kun but kun is mostly used between peoe of the same age. See now you know.*

"Bushy brow has some pretty advanced taijutsu, this won't be Itachi but it's fun enough."

Sakura threw a kunai but Dosu just dodged that, Lee however had no weapons except for his mighty fist. He dug his hands into the ground then bam pulled up some tree root things.

"?!"

"I know your jutsu has tricks, I won't just dodge them. I've seen your attacks before." Lee said as he held up the roots.

"Pft..." Zaku scoffed.

"He's...strong." Sakura said, amazed.

(3 vs 1 I'm at a disadvantage so I'll have to crush them all one by one.)

_Team 10..._

"Arrgh! We can't find any weak guys!" Ino yelled.

"As I said there are no guys weaker than us well except maybe Naruto's team..." Shikamaru pointed out that is but there's only one lagging the team.

"IDIOT! What're you talking about!" Ino yelled.

(yep an idiot with like over 200 IQ...) Choji thought to himself, he was so tired he was just laying on the ground.

"Sakura and Naruto I can see your point but they have SUPER-AWESOME-GENIUS-PRODIGY-ITACHI-KUN!" Ino pointed out, which was true-ish.

"Itachi isn't all that, I'm sure even a 'genius' like him would surely crack under pressure of the real world."

*another vein pops* "...WHAT?!"

"Yeesh I'm sorry, I'm sorry." (Just say one bad thing about Itachi and she's immediately pissed.)

"There's no way Itachi-kun would lose!" Ino proclaimed. "Sakura on the other hand, ha!"

Since they just happened to be by team 7, Choji happened to see an awesome fight going on. "Hey look, Itachi is knocked out cold and Sakura is fighting." Choji pointed out.

"HUH?!"

_Team Guy..._

"Lee is really late." Tenten said, it was over 30 minutes, Lee should a been here by now.

"That's strange when it comes to time he's usually accurate." Neji conspired. "Do you think he ran into the enemy?"

"...! No...you don't think."

"Heh of course not! Let's go find Lee."

"Let's do it!"

* * *

><p><em>Flashback...<em>

BAM! Lee just split through that tree! "Yeah I did it!" Lee exclaimed, overjoyed.

Guy walked up to Lee. "Calm it Lee."

Guy looked at Tenten and Neji, both tired. (So is Lee the only one who mastered this technique.)

Lee started to dance around, still over joyed. "Hey Lee..." Guy started to say but Lee did not listen.

Guy punched Lee in the face as punishment. "Listen up Lee. This is important."

"What is it?" Lee asked, kinda crying in a comical way.

"This technique, 'lotus' is from now on a forbidden technique."

"...! What why?"

"This technique puts too much strain on your muscle fibers, it's a suicidal technique basically." Guy explained.

"For a normal human," Guy continued. "they use only about 20% of its muscle power. Using 100% will destroy your muscles. Your brain normally holds down this power but with this technique it uses chakra to release the brain's limitation. This jutsu just basically increases the muscle power and speed of taijutsu."

"This is a very dangerous jutsu that put the body to its limits. Under one condition may you use it."

"What condition is that?" Lee asked.

"Listen it is when..."

* * *

><p>(Guy sensei, I'm going to use this without limitations...) Lee started to unwrap his bandages.<p>

(Because right now I must protect a precious one!)

Lee jumped over the roots and kicked Dosu in the jaw. "He vanished!" Dosu gasped.

Lee punched up high in the air over and over. "Time for the finish." Lee said, his bandages wrapped around Dosu, then he drove back down.

"Dosu is going to die like that!" Zaku panicked. "He's in trouble now!"

"The final move!" Lee yelled, he started to spin them around. "INITIAL LOTUS!"

As Zaku jumped down, Rock Lee quickly jumped away. What no! Right before Dosu hit he landed in a soft pile of dirt because of Zaku!

Lee landed back on the tree limb. "He couldn't have!" Rock Lee gasped.

"Ugh...that much damage even with Zaku...what a technique." Dosu mumbled.

Dosu spun his head back and held out his arm. "MY TURN!"

(Dammit! My body is...this is bad!) Lee's body was painfully strained and this bastard was gonna get his revenge.

Not even five seconds and Dosu already attempted to strike but Lee dodged just in time. "Your moves are at high-speed," Dosu admitted. "but ours is at the speed of sound! Hardwork no matter how much can't beat those with talent!"

Lee looked up, everything was wavy and wonky. "BLAH!" Lee threw up, then even worse things happened.

"LEE-SAN!" Sakura yelled, he was still in pain.

Lee's ear bled, more blood again. (My right ear!) Lee pressed on his right ear as more blood spilled out.

Dosu held out his arm, it was like an arm guard only with holes in them. "You can't just dodge these attacks."

Sakura watch as Lee started to shake, with Naruto and Itachi out...what would happen? (...What did he...)

Dosu creaked his neck. "He-he-he! It's sound. You can dodge fist but you can't dodge sound."

"Huh?" Rock Lee asked.

"Do you know what sound is?"

"...Vibration." Sakura answered.

Dosu took the liberty of explaining the ear and its amazing powers. (instead of maybe...kill) "Hearing sound basically means your ear drums are catching the vibrations of air. However your eardrums will break at sound of 150 MHz or more." Dosu explained but he wasn't done just yet. "Deeper in the ear lies the inner ear membrane, damage that, you lose your balance."

"He-he. Looks like you won't be able to move your body for quite some time."

"You see," Zaku added. "dumbass taijutsu won't work on us...well I must admit you were doing well enough to force me to use my jutsu.

Zaku also took the liberty of explaining his jutsu...probably not a good idea but...meh. "You see I can control super sonic sound waves and air pressure, that power can even destroy rock. Blasting air into earth, creating a cushion. Peh, you underestimate me."

"There's a fine line between our jutsu and your dumb technique."

(Dammit...) Lee thought to himself, a memory coming back to him.

* * *

><p><em>Short Flashback...<em>

"The only time when your allowed to use this jutsu," Guy said. "is to protect a precious one."

"Protect a precious one?"

Guy put his hand on Lee's shoulder. "Great job mastering that technique though!"

Lee started to cry and blush a little. "Good job Lee!"

* * *

><p>(Dammit!)<p>

Dosu took out his arm and headed for Sakura. "Your turn!" Dosu yelled.

"CRAP!" Lee yelled, he jumped over to protect Sakura.

"What! Impossible!"

"Lee-san!" Sakura yelled but it was too late.

Lee swung back his leg then kicked, and kept on swinging creating a tornado like appearance. "Leaf tornado!" Lee yelled.

(Shit.) Lee stopped because of the pain of his ear, Dosu slammed back Rock Lee's foot. "I thought the jutsu wasn't affecting you, good!" Dosu hissed, that creep.

"Scared me there for a bit!" Dosu brought back his arm and swung it at Lee who despite the pain lifted his arm and blocked the attack.

Blast came from Dosu's arm guard thing. "Small sounds are amplified to its full power with these. Like a speaker you could say!"

"But the sound doesn't just follow my arm," the sound hit Rock Lee in the face, making him vibrate violently. "my chakra can control it to always hit where I want it to!"

Lee's eardrum ruptured. "AAAAHHHHHH!" Lee screamed.

"Lee-san!" Sakura yelled again but alas that did not help.

Lee fell back on the tree limb. "Now let's end this!" Dosu pulled back his arm.

"NO I WON'T LET YOU!" Sakura grabbed several kunai and shuriken, she then threw the kunai.

_Team 10..._

Everyone peered at the fight behind the bush, it was serious. "Geez, let's go! They're in big trouble!" Choji whispered, sweat pouring down his face.

"Yeah, from the looks of it Itachi and Naruto are just...knocked out." Shikamaru pointed out, pushing down the bushes to get a slight clearer view.

"What will you do?" Shikamaru asked. "Lee is beaten and Sakura is alone out there."

"What will I do?" Ino asked, mostly herself.

"Really Sakura is in serious trouble," Shikamaru sighed. "I thought you guys used to be best friends."

"..."

* * *

><p><em>The (bad) younger years of Sakura and Ino...<em>

Ino and Sakura sat on a bench together, enjoying the afternoon, well Ino at least was enjoying the afternoon. "...Hey Sakura, why are you so down?" Ino asked, noticing that Sakura was staring down on the ground.

"Ino-chan..." Sakura started to ask.

"Hm?" Ino asked, a nice little smile on her face.

"I've hated you also like Itachi-kun..."

"What?!"

Sakura stood up and walked away, she turned her head back. "From now on Ino, we are rivals."

Wait, wait, wait. Did Sakura just...just do that?! Sakura just ended their friendship?! Over a weasel?!

* * *

><p>(Why am I remembering that time?) "...!"<p>

"INO! What do we do now?" Shikamaru asked.

"What can we do?! If we jump out now! We'll be defeated for sure!"

_Sakura..._

"No! I can..." Sakura started to throw her shuriken. "I can fight too!" Sakura yelled and she threw those shuriken.

Zaku ran in front of Dosu, like he said he used the air to his advantage and brought the shuriken back to Sakura. (the air pressure! Of course!)

Sakura tried blocking herself against the shurikrens, now she had to worry about herself as well. Dosu smiled. In a sudden movement Sakura felt a tug at her hair.

Kin, the girl who didn't do much before was holding her beautiful pink hair. "Much more softer and silkier than mine." Kin creepily said, holding tightly to that pink hair. "Heh, don't even try. Instead of making your hair so pretty why don't you try some damn training."

"Zaku, catch this Itachi person and bring him to Orochimaru. And kill the blonde one while you're at it. It'll teach them a lesson."

"Nice."

(No! I can't...I won't!)

"Stop moving!" Kin barked.

Lee turned his head to catch a glimpse of Sakura. "Sakura-chan..." Lee mumbled.

(...can't feel my...body...)

(Argh! I...)

(I thought maybe just this once I could protect those I love but I see that hasn't changed...I'm still just standing there letting Itachi and Naruto save me. Maybe just this once I thought...)

Zaku grinned. "Let's not waste time, are we ready?"

Itachi on the other hand was still sadly knocked out, what in the world did Tobi even do to him?! But one thing was for sure, Itachi's eyes...started to change again. (I have to...do...I can't...)

Sakura smiled, she held out a kunai knife. "That's pretty stupid, you know that won't work."

"It will."

Sakura held out the kunai then slashed...her hair...we aren't done yet folks. Everyone gasped, Sakura does not care about her hair!

"_I always thought I was a proud ninja, I've claimed to like Itachi I always would scold Naruto as if I thought I was better than him. But the truth is all I did was watched from behind...wishing to catch up to them._"

"_They've always fought to protect me, Lee-san you told me you like me and with your back to me, fighting to protect me. Thank you I feel like I learned something now..._"

Sakura stood up, her back facing a knocked out Naruto and Itachi. "_Now get a good look at me, at my back!_"

"Kin! Kill her now!" Zaku yelled, Kin ran up to Sakura while she did hand signs to a jutsu! Oh I wonder what jutsu!

Kin rammed into her no actually a log, Kin rammed into a log, substitution jutsu I see. Zaku shifted his eyes to the right, Sakura was at him again. (Such academy level jutsu, what is she doing?)

"Kin move!" Zaku yelled but no she was running to him instead.

Sakura threw the kunai. "Bah! Useless!" (Air pressure 100% go! Sound waves 0%) Zaku held out his hands, there was like a machine in his palms.

Sakura weaved the same hand sign. "Air slicing blast!" Zaku yelled as a blast of air came back.

Again another log, this time from above Sakura came, Zaku threw the kunai knife then kept on looking around for her but wait! It wasn't a jutsu! Sakura drove down into Zaku's arm with her kunai, Zaku struggled then something surprising happened. Sakura clamped down on his arm. Everyone gasped again.

"Dammit! Let go of me!"

Ino watched Sakura, her mind made. "Sakura..."

* * *

><p><em>Flashback...Ino and Sakura still...evening...<em>

Sakura was crying by a tree as she always was, this time the kids were extra mean. Sakura heated footsteps, Ino from her class was walking up to her. She sat down. "So everyone's making fun of the forehead of yours?" Ino asked.

*sniff* "Who are you?" Sakura asked between sniffle.

"Yamanaka Ino, you?"

"Haruno..." *sniff* "Sakura..."

Ino poked Sakura's forehead like Sasuke would do like ALL the time. "So this is the big forehead." Ino lifted Sakura's hair. "I see you try to hide with your hair, you shouldn't do that Sakura, you look like a ghost."

"...!"

"Sakura is it, come here tomorrow and I'll have a nice gift for you!" Ino then walked off.

_The next day...afternoon..._

Ino tied on the ribbon, showing Sakura's beautiful face. "See Sakura you look much cuter now, keep the ribbon."

Sakura stood up and walked to the path. "Thank you but..."

"Yeah but what?"

"My forehead..."

"You have a cute face show it off, confidently."

(Ino-chan...)

Ino took Sakura to the park to meet some new friends. "Oh hey, who's the girl?" One of the girls asked.

"This is Sakura."

"Come on Sakura, say hi." Ino nudged.

"Um...hi..." Sakura shyly said.

(Ino still watched as Sakura still clamped on to Zaku, blood came but she did not stop...)

_One after noon...(that's what they're giving us...)_

Sakura ran up to those same girls from the park and Ino, she was there. "Hey guys! Guess what!" Sakura yelled, finally caught up to them. "I have a crush on someone!"

"Oh let me guess..." One of the girls teased.

"It's Itachi-kun am I right?"

"Huh? How did you know that?"

Ino was shocked though she didn't say anything, the girl continued. "Every girl has a crush on Itachi. He's the most popular guy."

Ino however was taking with this other girl. "Sakura sure is happier isn't she?" The girl asked.

Ino hid her feelings as well. "She's just hiding her feelings."

(Ino watched and watched, feelings started to swarm...)

"Ino-chan!" Sakura exclaimed. "I heard Itachi-kun likes girls with long hair so guess what!" Hm never knew Itachi was a long hair sorta guy...

(Sakura...'you like Itachi-kun as well don't you?')

"We're rivals from now on..."

Soon Sakura grew, wearing now her red dress with a white circle on the back, symbols are always on the back these days.

An older Ino was walking down a path, just doing nothing. Windy day. Leaves blowing. Sun shining. "Looks like your hair's gotten pretty long Ino." Sakura said.

Ino swung her head back, a vein popping out. "What do you want now?!" Ino yelled.

"Guess what I'm on the same team as Itachi-kun!" Sakura shot back.

"..."

Sakura got serious, the wind blew her long hair. "Never again will I lose to you."

"I will never lose to you either."

* * *

><p>Sakura still was biting on Zaku's arm pretty damn hard. "Sakura..." Ino said again, a tear falling down.<p>

Lee was beat up, Naruto and Itachi still knocked out, one good thing was Itachi was beginning to wake up. That's good. "...ugh..." Itachi mumbled...maybe not.

Sakura was thrown down on the ground. But no she still tried to stand back up. "I will protect the ones I love!"

Zaku held his palm things out. "Damn brat!" Zaku yelled, he was ready to blast.

Just before it hit Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru protected her against the blast.

"Ino!" Sakura still somehow managed to say.

"Like I've said before Sakura. I won't lose to you." Now Sakura had to look at Ino's back...

_Itachi's dream..._

Itachi was standing in a room somewhere there was color, lots of wavy blue and greens. "...wait..." Another person was in the room with Itachi, he had untamed hair and wore a high collar black shirt like all Uchiha, it was Shisu! Yay we love Shisu!

Shisu walked up to Itachi. "I see you finally have my eyes, have you used them yet?" Shisu asked.

"No..."

"I'm sure you will weasel!"

"..."

Shisu narrowed his eyes and got serious. "Now that you have my power, do not get the curse mark. Do not go to Orochimaru. At least not until you can get the Sword of Totsuka and handle him properly."

"...Shisu..."

"And don't over use the Mangeykō sharigan either, I'm sure you won't since it's pretty painful the first time you use Susanoo or Amerteratsu."

Itachi ran up to Shisu, so I guess they've shared some history did they? "Thank you...Shisu."

Shisu rustled Itachi's hair and smiled. "You are the savior of the Uchiha clan." The Shisu disappeared.

* * *

><p>AN: Just to be clear Itachi posses both of Shisu's eyes and Danzo has none. Just wanted to be clear on that;)

There's going to be a big surprise next chapter, very big.


	7. Chapter 7: The power of the Uchiha

**Recap:** Itachi does not get the curse mark surprisingly but now Orochimaru's men are chasing him down. One thing Itachi did get was a better sharigan! Yay! and Shisu came! We all love Shisu! The Akatsuki recruited Deidara, Sasuke can use Kamui, hopefully he can use more than just that.

**Guest:** I'm working on that I don't like how Sakura is at the moment, change can be a little tough though.

* * *

><p>Sakura still on the ground struggled to find her words. "But...why...?"<p>

"I won't let you be the only one who gets to look good in front of Itachi-kun." Ino said but since Itachi was still out the hell was she talking about?

Dosu creaked his neck again. "More insects, interesting." Dosu said in a creepy voice.

"Arghh...what're you two thinking? This is too rash!" Choji yelled, he tried to get up and run but be couldn't

"Shikamaru let go of my scarf! I'm not a dog!"

"Dream on! You can't runaway and leave Ino to fend for herself, idiot!"

Ino smirked. "I'm sorry to get you all wrapped up in this but we are a team." Ino pointed out.

"Yeah I know."

"Just runaway fatty." Zaku encouraged, a smirk on his face.

Choji was shocked. "What did you say, I don't think I could hear you." Choji said.

"What?!"

"That word is a taboo word for Choji," Shikamaru explained. "if I were you I wouldn't say it twice or-"

"I said you can runway...FATASS!" Zaku yelled, ignoring Shikamaru's warning completely.

"DAMMIT!" Choji yelled, several veins popping out. "I AM NOT A FATASS! I'M JUST CHUBBY!"

Choji put his fist in the air. "YEAH CHUBBY! LET'S DO THIS LEAF VS. SOUND!" Choji screamed, fire in his eyes, ready to fight!

Shikamaru put down his scarf. "This is gonna be a drag." Shikamaru sighed.

"Here we go." Zaku sighed, kinda getting tired of this. (Sigh...we were suppose to bring Itachi-kun to Oro-sama before the end of the exams but it looks like that'll have to run over...shit...)

Sakura struggled towards Naruto and Itachi who were still knocked out. "Sakura..." Sakura turned her head around, it was Ino.

"Ino..."

"Take of them."

"I will."

"Alright here we go! INO TEAM LET'S DO IT!" Ino yelled.

"YEAH! INO-SHIKA-CHO formation!"

Choji did several hand seals. "Multi-size technique!" Choji yelled, his body expanded to a large balloon shape. *this jutsu basically expands your body, or different/singular parts of your body as well*

"Next human bullet tank!" Choji stuck in his head, feet, and hands, now he looked like a giant boulder.

Choji drove towards Zaku, smashing the ground making dirt pieces fly everywhere, Zaku got out his hands and prepared to do that same old jutsu with the air and the sound whatever. Choji jumped up and was about to smash into Zaku.

Dosu ran up to Zaku but not too fast. Shikamaru as well weaved a hand sign. "Shadow imitation technique!" *this jutsu stops people...well that's what it does. And it controls people. There is however a limit.*

(My body!) "Dammit I can't move!" Dosu fretted, his shadow was trapped, jutsu complete.

Before Choji could hit him Zaku got out-of-the-way just in time. Dosu was still trapped thank goodness, Dosu put his hands on his head for no reason. "Dosu! What're you doing?!" Kin yelled.

Shikamaru and Dosu did the same hand movements because of this awesome jutsu. "Ino!" Shikamaru said, sweat pouring. "Getting the girl would be nice!"

Ino nodded and she as well weaver a sign. "Take care of my body! Mind body switch technique!" Ino's body fell down bit the jutsu, complete. *this jutsu allows you to briefly control someone and their actions, downside your body is vulnerable.*

"...ugh...so dizzy..." Choji said, a puff of smoke clearing up revealing that he was back to his old self.

"If you guys move an inch I'll kill Kin!" Ino threatened, a kunai to her neck.

Ino continued. "If you give up your scroll and leave I'll let her go." (...no way they would...)

"Ino they're going to attack!" Sakura yelled.

Zaku smirked and held out his hand. "No way."

Zaku blasted Kin, his comrade. Kim slammed on a tree, coughing up blood. Blood dripped from Ino's mouth as well. "Ino!" Shikamaru exclaimed. *another downside, what happens to your opponent is what happens to you.*

(These guys...hurting their own comrade. What creeps.) Ino thought to herself barely getting up but still in Kin's body.

Zaku still held out his hand. "Idiots, we don't care about the damn scrolls or completing these exams safely." Zaku explained. Everyone gasped

"We care only to capture Itachi-kun." Dosu added.

(Damn! Thus jutsu reached its limit...!) Shikamaru could no longer hold the shadow much longer and Dosu was released.

"So," Dosu examined finally free to control his body. "this jutsu only last around five minutes." Dosu turned his head to Kin. "And that's a possession jutsu isn't it but I see it has a drawback."

Dosu took out his arm with the sound guard. "Killing Kin will also kill the girl. Too bad, Kin should've been more useful."

"Will you stop!" Dosu turned his head, it was Neji along with Tenten, finally! "You lowlife sound ninjas bullying these weak ninjas and declaring victory?"

Everyone was shocked, well isn't everyone always like this? Neji took a look at Lee who was alive but injured bad. "You made a mistake."

"Lee..." Tenten said.

(That's Lee's team!) Sakura thought to herself and yes it was.

Neji continued. "That one you knocked out right there, he's on our team and now you will pay!" Neji eye's had these veins and everything around them. Wow! Eye power!

Everyone was shocked, it was amazing. "It's...like seeing through his eyes!" Dosu said, he was shocked as well.

"Take on more step, I will not hesitate to fight you..." Neji sensed a strong amount of chakra, like amazingly strong. (What is this chakra...?)

Dosu laughed. "Stop acting so cool and fight is if you don't like this." Dosu challenged.

"Sorry but now it seems you have another opponent."

Sakura swung her head around, Itachi was slowly getting up. "Itachi-kun! You're awake!"

Team 10 was surprised with what they saw, Itachi looked different. "What...Itachi-kun?"

Itachi had a red-orange glowing fire-like chakra surrounding him, his eyes were the Mangeykō sharigan. A large skeleton exterior started building up around him. It was Susanoo. "Sakura...who did this to you?" Itachi asked.

"Itachi-kun!"

Itachi's expression darkened. "I'm going to ask you again, who the hell did this you?!"

Everyone gasped not only because first off he had Susanoo but second off he cussed. Itachi never cusses. Itachi...was passed upset. (Did Itachi-kun...) Sakura thought to herself...still surprised.

(No way! Itachi cussed!) Shikamaru thought to himself, almost reading Sakura's thoughts.

"What is this power?" Dasu asked. "No wonder Orochimaru-sama wants him, this is..."

Zaku creaked his neck and smirked. "We did."

Sakura struggled to find words, Itachi's outer skeleton soon enlarged, and it just kept on getting bigger. "Itachi-kun your body..."

"I know. It's Shisu's Mangeykō sharigan's powers." The skeleton was at full size, now of course there was suppose to be armor and muscles whatever. But that's later. "Now which one of you did this?" Itachi asked.

No one said anything except for Shikamaru. "Ino, Choji let's go this is bad!"

Ino released the jutsu and Team 10 hid behind a bush, never know what Itachi could do. Dosu stood there, petrified. (Is this the kid's power...he's...he's better than Orochimaru himself.)

Zaku being his dumb self weaved a sign. "Don't be scared Dosu! This guy is just a weakling!" Zaku yelled, he shifted his hands towards Itachu, both full blast.

"Zaku no! Idiot!"

Too late. A large explosion occurred, everyone shielded themselves, Itachi was gone. Wait what? "Looks like Itachi isn't all that."

Itachi set down Naruto and Sakura whom he both carried. "Wrong again." Itachi's eyes bled down, this was going to be his greatest move. "Amerteratsu!" Black fire spewed out of Itachi's mouth.

Zaku laughed and set his air pressure hand to 100, nothing. The black flames stayed in the ground still burning. Zaku was now surrounded by black flames. "These flames are hotter than the sun! You can't put these out!" Itachi yelled, he stuck his skeleton hand in the ground.

Zaku was now in Itachi's grasp again, he squeezed harder and harder. Well Itachi's acting...different. Itachi's eyes were not him...this wasn't Uchiha Itachi this was...him..."This is the Uchiha's power!" (but isn't this wrong...)

Itachi was back in a room, instead now it was pitch black instead of colorful. Shisu was there, again. "You can't let the curse control you Itachi. You can't fall like everyone else."

"...Shisu."

Shisu walked over and poked Itachi's forehead. "Don't be like Sasuke."

Itachi loosened his grip on Zaku, now granted he could still be dead...but you never know. Itachi let go of Zaku, his Susanoo started to disappear. Itachi turned to Dosu and Kin. He held out a bow and arrow this time and pointed it at them. "Leave."

Dosu and Kin nodded, they ran off with Zaku who was again, dead probably. Dropping their scroll conveniently. Itachi's Susanoo was now gone, he started to fall. Before Itachi hit the ground Sakura held into him. "Itachi-kun..." Tears fell as Sakura tightly hugged Itachi.

Itachi's sharigan eventually returned to normal eyes. "Thank-you, Sakura."

"Itachi-kun...are you ok?"

"I'm sorry Sakura..." Itachi struggled over to Naruto who was still ok. "Is everyone ok?" Itachi asked, putting himself before everyone, how nice.

"Pretty much, how's Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

"He-he! Sakura-chan I gotcha!" Naruto mumbled, still asleep.

"He's fine."

As Ino picked up Lee Shikamaru walked over to Naruto. "What now? Kick him or something?" Shikamaru asked.

"Allow me." Choji said.

_Naruto's dream..._

Naruto stood in front of Sakura, Itachi for no reason at all was in a weasel costume and was in danger. Creepy Pond guy came at Naruto with a kunai knife. Just as the good part was about to come Naruto started to scream in pain.

There was a large bump on Naruto's head and Choji had a club in his hand, hm see what happened there? So finally Naruto was awake, just clueless.

Naruto looked around, Pond guy (it's Orochimaru but...meh...) was gone thank goodness. "Hey where is he?" Naruto frantically asked.

Naruto started to crawl. "Everyone hide! Go, go, go!"

Sakura and Itachi looked over to see Naruto was awake, Sakura just got do e cleaning Itachi's bloody face now this? "Naruto's awake, good." Itachi said.

(Great the idiot is awake...) Ino thought while she still lugged around Lee.

Naruto felt a poke on his bump thing. "Yikes!" Naruto turned his head around, just Choji pickin' at it with a club.

"You're the only one Naruto." Shikamaru sighed, his hands in his pockets.

"Huh?"

"You give me headache."

Naruto quickly stood up. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled.

"..." Itachi started to pack up, they were leaving soon enough.

Naruto ran up to them. "Sakura-chan! Your hair!"

Sakura brushed through her hair. "Just a new style, just wanted to try something new."

(I doubt that...especially with that rumor going on...) Itachi thought.

"I prefer it longer," Sakura continued as Naruto sat down next to them. "but in the forest it gets hard to manage..."

"Ah I get it."

Naruto noticed Shikamaru and Choji who were still here for no reason. "Why are you guys here?" Naruto asked.

"It would be a drag to explain so I'll leave it at that."

"...Actually...everyone came to save us." Sakura said, she glanced at Ino who smiled in agreement.

Ino smiled. (Still hiding her feelings is she?)

Tenten jumped down to Ino and Lee. "Let me Lee."

Ino gave Lee Tenten then shook the sense back to him. "Wake up Lee! Snap out of it!"

"Uuu...Tenten why are you...here?"

"We came to save you."

Lee looked around. "Where are the sound nin?"

"The Itachi guy he drove them off."

"I see..."

"Why did you break the plan and fight alone Lee, see now you're all beaten up."

"I know but Sakura-San was in trouble."

Tenten sighed. "That was still idiotic you know."

"Yeah I know."

Naruto jumped up to Tenten and Lee. "Bushy-brows!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura ran up and punched Naruto in the face because that was...forget that. "Don't be so rude to Lee-san!" Sakura yelled.

Naruto landed on the ground, beaten up even more thanks to Sakura. "The hell happened while I was asleep?" Naruto mumbled.

"He's clueless." Shikamaru stated.

"Yeah, I don't think he would ever be the main character of anything." Choji added.

(Naruto's the main character already isn't he?) Itachi thought as he walked over to Sakura.

"Thank you Lee-san, I think I be gotten a little stronger because of you." Sakura thanked and she did.

Lee smiled and started to cry tears of joy. "You're welcome Sakura-san!"

Lee looked over to Itachi. "The Uchiha clan is great like everyone said, you drove off the sound nin and you have my thanks. Me on the other hand, I got my butt kicked."

"..." (Lee is better than me at taijutsu, hm those guys must have been that strong...)

Lee started to get up. "The leaf lotus blooms twice Sakura-san, next we meet I'll be stronger. That is my promise."

"Yeah you will." Sakura agreed while Naruto just pouted.

"Hey Sakura!" Ino yelled breaking the silence. "Let me straighten your hair."

"Yeah whatever."

While Ino did Sakura's hair Neji, who was still up in the trees, watched Itachi. (Uchiha Itachi with powers never before seen in the leaf. He'll be quite the opponent.)

_Anko..._

_Random narrator: Ten hours ago, first day._

Anko faced three random large tigers, there was no time for this. "Bah! I have not time for this crap!"

"Body freeze technique!" Someone yelled, the tigers froze...of course.

Two ANBU FINALLY showed up in the forest. "So here you are Anko." One of the ANBU said, and that's ANBU with all caps.

"For ANBU, you've arrived pretty late..."

The two ANBU jumped down. "Hey..."

"UGNH!" Anko yelled, her hand clenching her neck.

The ANBU with the bird mask was shocked. "The curse mark! How is that possible?!"

"Orochimaru..." Anko answered.

"Shi...we'll have to take you the Hokage then..."

"No! The tower!"

"Are you crazy? Martial law states that if Orochimaru comes then the exams are over, meaningless."

"I'll explain it to you at the tower, bring the Hokage too."

_The tower..._

Anko was on the couch still feeling the pain of the cures mark. "I know things are bad," Anko admitted. "but we can't stop the exams! Not now!"

"Why?" The ANBU with the bird mask asked.

The door swung open, a chūnin burst through the door. "Anko-san! We have important news! It's urgent!" The guy yelled.

"Ugh...what is it?"

He held out a tape. "This take a look."

"A video?"

Everyone watched the several T.V.'s after the tape was out in. He pointed to the time slot. "Now here look at the time!"

"This is the recording, an hours 37 minutes into it."

Anko was shocked, how could they do it so fast. "The three shinobi from the sand village, passed the second test."

Anko gasped but really, it's not that major. "Unbelievable 97 minutes."

"No one has ever passed the test so quickly." That counts Minato, that counts Third hokage, Orochimaru, Sasori, all those good people out there. that is major.

"These guys aren't at genin level." The guy concluded. "To destroy the record of four hours, they can't be."

"That's not just it." Anko said. "From here to the entrance that's 10 km. Facing thorough animals, terrain, competitors. As if that was nothing." *6 miles for customary users out there*

The video was still paused at Gaara. "Especially the red-haired kid." Anko added.

"Hm what's so special about him?"

"It's really noticeable. Look at his body."

The chūnin looked at the screen, just a kid, you know. Spotless. "...Oh I see now."

Anko looked out of the window. "Not a single scratch or a noticeable speck of dirt on his clothes." Anko explained.

(For any chūnin going from the entrance to here spotless is impossible...) Maybe because Gaara is just that awesome maybe? Or maybe he had a little help eh...

_Team 8..._

_Random narrator: The first day. 50 minutes from the start._

"YAHOO! This is the survival life!" Kiba yelled as the team all jumped from tree branch to tree branch. "Heh right Akamaru?"

"Arf!" Akamaru barked in agreement.

"What luck! Those dumbasses we caught had the earth scroll! We'll be the first ones at this rate!" Kiba yelled again, make that second actually.

"Let's calm down and keep quiet." Shino tried to calm down. "We don't want the enemy to hear us."

"Even the smallest insects," Shino continued. "in order to-"

"Gah! I know that!" Kiba cut in. "Argh! Why do you keep on talking about bugs, yeesh it's annoying! You aren't the boss you know!"

"...yeah...but um Shino-kun does make a good point." Hinata pointed out.

"Ok-ok!"

(I hope Naruto-kun is ok...)

Kiba smelled something, as well as Akamaru. "Wait! Hold it!"

"Since everyone said we should be so cautious about our enemy Hinata I want you to look 1 km that way." Kiba ordered. *1km=1,000 yards or so*

"Right!" Hinata looked in the direction given.

(Byakugan!) Ooooh! Clan power! Hinata could see a shinobi with red hair and a giant gourd, it was Gaara.

"There's a fight going on." Hinata explained.

Shino got down on the tree limb and pressed his ear against it. "Six I would say."

"Hm, let's go check it out." Kiba said, let's hear why.

"What?! That's not a good choice."

"Huh?!"

"Examiner said to bring one heaven, one earth scroll. She never said we couldn't bring more besides it'll eliminate the competition." Kiba explained, to this day it's still a stupid-cocky plan.

"B-but..." Hinata started to stammer.

"Relax. We'll just heck it out. Looks bad we won't fight. Now let's move!"

Once they finally got there it was immediately bad, Akamaru can sense out chakra and an enemy's strength. Which actually comes in handy but he just started shaking. Was it because of the chakra or strength? Chakra.

Three rain nin stood before the sand siblings, Gaara looked cold as he always did. An emotionless face. A demon who only loves his self, according to his little tattoo thing. Akamaru was still shaking, these guys were trouble. That was their first warning.

"You will die." The head rain nin stated, hey the hidden rain...familiar?

"Enough with this old man." Gaara said. "Let's fight now."

(We don't know if their scroll was taken or which scroll it is...) Kankurō, the guy with the puppets and that crap stepped in. "Without some info Gaara, fighting them is pointless."

"It doesn't matter. Those who meet my eyes all must die." Gaara stated.

Everyone was shocked. (Hardheaded little brother...knew we shouldn't have done this...)

Rain nin guy threw up several umbrella things. "Raining needles technique!" The guy yelled and needles rained, right on Gaara.

"You can't escape from these needles I control them with my chakra!"

Gaara was surrounded by hardened sand, he was alive and all that. Rain nin tried redirecting the needles but even without weaving a single hand sign Gaara blocked it with his sand. "Is that it now?" Gaara asked.

(This is the wrong guy to pick a fight with...) Kankurō thought to himself as he crossed his arms, Gaara already won this fight.

"Let's make it rain, blood." Gaara sinisterly said.

Kiba, Hinata, and Shino were shocked. Those needles could pierce through steel, this sand...packed with chakra and blood. Able to effortlessly move with out Gaara's acknowledgement. Amazing truly but also scary.

Garra did a hand sign. "Sand coffin!" The sand rushed towards the leader, engulfing him in sand except for his face. Gaara picked up one of the umbrellas.

"I could just cover your mouth and kill you." Gaara suggested, he opened the in realms over his head. "But that's too pitiful."

Gaara held out his hand, his fingers coming closer and closer until it was a full fist. "Desert graveyard!" Blood rained down on Gaara, which is why for the umbrella.

"No suffering. I killed him too quickly. When blood mixes with the sand it grand the user more power." Gaara explained to the petrified two remaining rain nin who could've escaped by now.

The shorter rain nin rolled them a heaven scroll. "P-please," the nin stuttered. "don't kill us. here's the scroll."

The ground rumbled, sand slithered up their bodies, eventually engulfing them. Sucks. Gaara held out his hands and just like he did with their leader he started to slowly close his hands to make a fist. "Wait stop!" The nin pleaded but alas.

"See ya!" Temari said, waving her hand.

Gaara squeezed his fist shut. Dead.

Back in the bushes behind team 8 was terrified. "Come on! Dammit we gotta go!" Kiba whispered.

A heaven scroll rolled to Kankurō's foot. "What luck," Kankurō picked up the scroll. "a heaven scroll."

"Good let's head to the tower."

"Shut up." Gaara hissed.

"Hm?"

"I want to kill more!" Of course that scared team 8 to death.

"No let's stop Gaara..."

"Coward." Gaara shot back.

"Gaara I know you're fine and all but we're not!" Kankurō argued. "We're set any more scrolls are futile."

"Don't tell me what to do, you worthless piece of junk."

"Why don't you stop? Listen to your big brother!"

"I never thought of any of you as my siblings, I won't hesitate to kill you."

Temari, the one with the fan and wind style jutsu junk, decided to step in. "Now, now. Gaara. We shouldn't say hurtful things alright, listen to your big sis ok."

Gaara held out his hand, everyone panicked. Especially team 8. Instead of killing and agony a small sand cork appeared. "Fine."

"These guys," Kiba said. "these guys are dangerous."

"Weeee!" Akamaru squealed in agreement.

_Team 7..._

After those last serious 50 minutes we are brought back to the present. Things are the same as the never been. Team 7 was by a water fall surrounded by a rocky coast and surrounding which meant food!

"Shadow clone technique!" Naruto yelled as he jumped off the ledge.

Itachi was out on the rocky coast three kunai between his fingers, as Naruto threw up the fish then Itachi threw the kunai knife at them. Sticking them in a tree, just basically teamwork.

"Now can you do it again." Itachi ordered."Three fish isn't enough."

Naruto pouted and splashed water at Itachi. "This isn't easy ya know! Why don't you do it?!"

"Naruto, we need more."

"Hey Itachi-kun, it's set. We just need a fire!" Sakura called out.

"Well then three's enough." Itachi walked back to set on fire.

"Wait?! I just said that dammit!" Naruto yelled, he got himself out of the water and sat by the fire.

"This is the fourth afternoon we've been here." Itachi said, where was he going with this?

"Yea...?" Sakura began to ask.

"So...let's see if we started at around 2:30 P.M. then that would leave us with only a little but more than a day to get the remaining scroll and head to the tower." Itachi turned his head. "And we aren't that close to the tower."

"That means...many teams already passed..." Sakura said.

Naruto on the other hand wasn't worried about that. "Come on fish cooks faster! I already choose the biggest one!"

Itachi took out the scroll, earth scroll. "This isn't good..."

_Random hidden leaf team out there..._

Team Shibire were still in the edges of the forest, one scroll no hope. "Not only has losses teams passed already but it's already the fourth day." Minoji sighed.

Tanzō stood up. "It's almost noon," he walked away. "I'll get some food you guys rest up."

"Yeah ok..." Shibire said, he slumped on a tree, his team was gonna lose...

"Hey..." Shibire started to say.

"Hm?"

"The heaven scrolls have white edges on them right and had the heaven character written on it, right?"

"I would think so but I don't really remember, why?"

Shibire smiled. "Hey...you aren't gonna..." Minoji said, he was surprised but at the same time curious.

_Team 7..._

Everyone except was munching on their fried fish, Sakura was worried. "There could be...no more heaven scrolls left..." Sakura wondered out loud.

"...So there's 78 entrants, 26 teams, and only 13 scrolls.

"Right so the highest amount of teams that can pass are only 13."

"But..." Itachi recalled. "Orochimaru burned the heaven scroll, rendering the earth scroll useless. It can only be a pair."

"Exactly. That means the amount of teams that can pass are now only twelve."

"We can't be sure though if all the other scrolls aren't damaged...if only about 20% of the people are remaining during this test then each time a scroll is destroyed out chances are slimmer and slimmer."

"After parting ways with out leaf comrades, it took us two days to heal. We have to be more active. After today it's out last day and out last chance."

Naruto watched Sakura and Itachi go back and forth. (Man, smart people talk...I don't get any of it...)

Itachi stood up. "Next enemy we face, we'll have to take their scroll." Itachi glanced at Naruto. "You do want become hokage don't you?"

"That is my dream!"

"You can't become one until you pass the chūnin exams." (And the jounin test but that's later...)

"Well I'm getting some water." Itachi said, he picked up the scroll. "I'll take this with me."

"Wait!" Naruto exclaimed.

"What is it now?"

Naruto leaned in, he dumped his bag, letting different scrolls roll out. "I have plenty of scrolls, we just have to change one to look like a heaven scroll." Naruto explained.

"People aren't stupid Naruto." Itachi sighed. "Since we don't have a heaven who will we know what it looks like, we'll be caught for sure."

"...Ok then Itachi, you can use your sharigan!"

"For what? Sharigan can't look through scrolls that's the byakugan."

"Well Sharigan are useless...maybe these things have like a password or something..."

Naruto thought up of something. "Of course! These things have passwords to them, you have to read tell them the passwords in order to pass. Ha! My smartness amazes even me!"

"So what!" Sakura yelled. "If we don't know what's inside it's meaningless!" (What a moron...looks like his serous face fooled me...)

Itachi sighed again. "Do not open that scroll Naruto, I'll be back after getting this water."

"Wait! You can copy the scroll!"

"What?"

"Remember when you tried to trick the snake guy with the scroll weapon jutsu!"

"That's a waste of chakra Naruto...just don't open it." Itachi walked off to get water.

Naruto held the earth scroll. "Hey wait, didn't Itachi take that?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah well I switched it when Itachi wasn't looking with an identical scroll!" Naruto explained with a grin.

"I'm gonna open this, maybe it will give us a clue about the password for the heaven scroll..."

"Naruto no! You wouldn't."

_Team Shibire..._

Tanzō heard a scream coming from his group he ran back, they were both knocked out. "They opened the scroll..."

_Team 7..._

Despite after being punched in the face Naruto still began to open it. Then it disappeared. "Our scroll!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sakura punched him in the face. "See! I told you!"

"And I told you not to open it." Itachi said, he held the real earth scroll in his hand along with a canteen of water.

"Bah! Give me that!" Naruto snatched the scroll away from Itachi once he got close enough.

"Now let's open the real scroll..." Naruto's face sweated as he delicately started to in do the scroll.

Before Naruto could unwrap it a hand stopped him, no not Itachi. This one had gloves. It was Kabuto! Yay? "Don't you remember the rules?" Kabuto asked.

"That wasn't the best chives you guys made..." Itachi scolded, see should've listened.

"We're sorry." Naruto mumbled as both Sakura and Naruto's head sunk lower.

"Shinobi who break the rules," Kabuto explained. "are subdued to failing the exams. There's a hypnotism jutsu on the scrolls. You'll be knocked out until the end of the exams."

"Kabuto is it, why are you out here alone?" Itachi asked.

"I'm not after your scroll Itachi."

"I know that. Which means your after the heaven scroll?"

"No I have both," Kabuto showed them his scrolls. "I just got separated with my teammates but I'm heading towards the tower."

(This would be a perfect chance to take the scroll...I could use Susanoo but I don't know Kabuto's power level...it would be a risk that I can't take.) Itachi sighed as he always did. "Let's go to the tower, I'm sure we'll have a chance then."

"Wait," Kabuto cut off. "let me help your team Itachi," Kabuto shifted his glasses. "most people of your clan would've attacked me and tried to of stole my scrolls by now. I'll help you with the right path."

The team plus...ugh...Kabuto jumped through the trees, night was approaching really fast and the second test was ending soon like what next chapter? Man...I'm sorry guys but I have to throw a curveball at you, things just can't be perfect anymore can they?

"Everyone knows the tactic right?" Itachi asked as they headed towards the towers like I said a thousand times.

"Could ya go over it again?" Naruto asked.

"So everyone who has both their scrolls will be heading the tower, right?"

"Uh-huh!"

"So we can ambush them from there the fact is though other teams will be there as well. There'll be traps set of course."

"Heh there's the handicap, makes it extra fun! I've been itching for a fight!"

Itachi looked at Sakura. "Sakura..."

"Yes Itachi-kun?"

"Stop calling me kun all the time. I expect you to fight this time. You have to be a better ninja for the team."

* * *

><p>AN: Fast update? I know. I've had much free time lately.

So gradually you can tell the story is slightly shifting I didn't want it to be the same exact thing only you replace Sasuke with Itachi. This is going to change, especially the fact that the Itachi isn't subdued to the curse of hatred or isn't focused on revenge rather on his team. Next chapter. The fight sequence from now on is changed.


	8. Chapter 8: Strong and Strike

**Recap: **After almost losing the chūnin exams Kabuto helps team 7 with finishing the exams for good. Questions are raised with the sand siblings true power and that special handicap Naruto's been hoping for...might of come...

Oh and sorry for long update, my computer broke...and then my stuff got deleted so I'm like screw this.

* * *

><p>Team 7 continued through the forest, the tower was just ahead. "And," Itachi added. "we have to watch out for the people who will steal our scroll even when they have both of theirs."<p>

"Collectors." Kabuto suggested.

"Hm. The collectors won't be a problem to deal with, such arrogant fools who think they're better than everyone else never win."

Team 7 stood on a tree trunk, the tower was in full view, the night was still young. Just out of luck an enemy appeared. Naruto threw his kunai knife at the sudden sound. It was a disgusting centipede of course.

"Ew! So disgusting!" Sakura spar out in disgust.

"...hm..."

Kabuto turned to Naruto. "We have to make safe precautions and be quiet so stop making such loud noises."

"ok."

After what felt like hours passed team 7 kept on walking. "I don't think..." Sakura stopped to catch her breath. "Sakura keep on going." Itachi said.

(I wish Itachi-kun would just pick me up...that would be so awesome!) Sakura thought to herself.

"Bah! We have to be here!" Naruto finally said, he jumped up. They were still the same distance away from the tower.

"..." Itachi sighed. (I'm such an idiot.) "Looks like we've fallen into a trap."

"Huh?"

Itachi pointed to the disgusting centipede from earlier. "...the enemy is trying to tire us out. It's simple."

The centipede disappeared and a bunch of rain shinobi creeped up on them, the same ones from the big tree incident. "Heh! I've been waiting for something like this!" Naruto ecstatically yelled.

"You're trapped rats now." Kagari hissed, emerging from the tree limb.

Naruto pulled out his fist and ran up to the clones. He punched it with all his might and it went straight through like water. His body dripped with water, then it split together to make another copy.

Itachi rummaged through his weapon bag then got out his shruiken and turned on level three sharigan. He threw the shuriken.

The rain shinobi put out his arm, the shuriken went straight through. "...!"

"Don't ever underestimate!" Itachi yelled, the shuriken suddenly flew back unexpectedly. The shuriken exploded then destroyed the clone.

Another clone weaved a hand sign and a replacement emerged from the ground, making Itachi's effort futile. "Give us your scroll!" Mubi demanded.

"Never!" Naruto yelled. The clones grabbed out kunai knives and threw them all.

Itachi weaved several signs. "Fire Release: Great Fireball technique!" The fire shot out of Itachi's mouth and burned the incoming kunai.

A clone threw a sai this time, piercing through the fire and hitting Itachi in the shoulder-blade area. Itachi grabbed the sai and stuck it in the ground.

Naruto created several shadow clones. "Let's do this again!"

Itachi's hand was over his wound. "It's futile Naruto! These guys are up there somewhere in the treetops making these clones appear. Their attacks are weak but since they have huge numbers it's still effective." Itachi explained.

"So then let's throw our kunai!"

"Where? The only thing we can do is dodge them."

Time after time, barrage after barrage team 7 had to endlessly dodge the kunai. It felt like it would never stop. The clones never tired neither did they, it would certainly make a long night of things stayed the same.

"This...is endless!" Sakura yelled, dodging three kunai at a time.

Naruto did the first sign to the shadow clone justu. "Then I'll burden your pain! If I can get 'em all at once then the enemy can't throw those damn kunai anymore!"

Itachi glanced at Naruto, Naruto returned the glance. "Well then Naruto. I'll take my leaving."

"Itachi-kun!" Sakura yelled but it was too late. Her hero was gone.

"Dammit! You can't leave at a time like this! Coward!" Naruto screamed. "Multi-Shadow clone technique!" Dozens of Naruto clones appeared before him.

The Naruto clones ruthlessly clashed into the rain clones. Naruto punched the clones one after one making them disappear. "Yeah go Naruto!" Sakura cheered.

"Here we go!" Naruto came down to the last one. "Never ever hurt with my friends!" The clone disappeared.

"We'll just make more clones then." Team Oboro hissed. Several mist clones emerged from the ground. Outnumbering the shadow clones and they destroyed every one of them.

Naruto fell back down. "I give up." Naruto mumbled.

Team Oboro appeared before them, coming down for the kill. Oboro held out his last kunai. "You're with the guy who nearly killed me. Let me return the favor."

He took one step and passed up the sai Itachi lodged into the earth. Suddenly there was an explosion. Team Oboro fell down. "Multi-shadow clone technique!"

Sakura watched Naruto with amazement. (Naruto...just how far...?)

Itachi finally reappeared, he had three kunai between his fingers. "Very good Naruto. Finish them off."

"Itachi," Sakura argued. "Naruto doesn't have enough chakra!"

"He does. You just have to trust in him Sakura."

Naruto grinned, he ran up to them along with three other shadow clones then punched them. "OW!" Naruto yelled. (I punched the...ground?!)

Several dozen shadow mist clones of the rain shinobi emerged from the ground. Itachi jumped down from the tree limb.

"Damn! You guys are gettin' really annoying!" Naruto yelled, creating several more shadow clones.

Itachi used the last of his chakra and used level one sharigan. "..."

Naruto kept on attacking the shadow clones but they wouldn't stop, more and more emerged from the ground.

(I can't risk my team's lives...I didn't want use this again but it seems I have no other option...) Itachi awakened the Mangeykō sharigan once more. Orange fire surrounded him as Shisu's Susanoo started to build up. Kabuto gasped.

For a split second of them was distracted by Itachi's Susanoo powers. (He's the real one then.) Itachi went back to level three sharigan then charged at him.

Itachi jumped over several clones, with the same sai as before in his hand he jumped up and dug the sai into his shoulder-blade. Blood spilled out. "Not even for a second can you flinch!"

The two other rain nin stopped fighting. "Oboro-sama!" One of them yelled.

"Fools! Don't stop fighting!"

Naruto grinned even wider. "This is over before it even started! Dattebayo!" The clones lunged at the rain nin and pounded the rain nin guys before Itachi could take a step.

The sun started to rise. Itachi walked back to Kabuto and Sakura. "Is everyone ok?" Itachi asked.

Sakura and Kabuto nodded. Itachi looked at Kabuto then handed him the sai. "Thank you Kabuto. You should have this."

"Aha! Found the heaven scroll!" Naruto exclaimed.

Naruto walked back to them smiling. "Good job Naruto!" Sakura congratulated.

"Heh! Itachi-weasel not too shabby out there!" Naruto stopped, Kabuto was passed out on the ground.

"Huh? What's with Kabuto?" Naruto asked.

"He's under a genjutsu. I knocked him out." Itachi answered.

"Wha-why would you do that?! He helped us!"

"He helped us, hurt us. This guy works for Orochimaru." Itachi pulled out a card. "My guess is he was probably going to give this card to Orochimaru so he'll know my stats."

"But...how do you?"

"He's wearing a leaf forehead protector. Have you ever seen this guy around here before. The biggest mistake he made however was that he knew my name yet I never told him."

"...you think you know a guy..." Naruto sighed.

Itachi stuffed the card in his other pouch. He opened up the door. "Either way Naruto you still did very well."

"Heh!"

Orochimaru waited in the other room, two sound nin dragging Kabuto came in. "My card?"

"Itachi put Kabuto under a genjutsu." One of them answered. "There is no card."

"Brilliant..."

Team 7 stepped in, it was empty except for a giant poster containing several characters. Except one was missing. "What the hell? Without heaven?" Naruto asked.

"...hm there's a missing word up there...and um...Sakura..."

(Dammit.) Sakura let go of Itachi, ending their sweet time. "Thank-you. You've been a big help Sakura."

Itachi and Naruto got out their scrolls. Heaven and earth. At the same time they both opened their respective scrolls. (Summoning jutsu...!) "Naruto let go of the scroll!" Both Itachi and Naruto threw their scrolls, Iruka was summoned.

"Heh," Iruka looked up. "long time no see right?"

"...! Bah! Iruka-sensei...why the...why are you here?" Naruto asked in a baffled tone.

"At the end of the second test it's set up so we chūnin get to see the exam takers. And I was chosen to go greet you." Iruka explained, he got out a stopwatch.

"Greet?" Sakura asked.

Iruka shut his stopwatch. "And just in time too. Well then...the second test, all three of you passed."

"..."

"Congratulations. Now I would love to celebrate this with some ramen my treat but you still-" Naruto jumped up and tackle hugged Iruka.

"WE DID IT!"

"Hey Naruto wait up."

"WE DID IT! WE DID IT!"

Naruto jumped up. "THIS IS SO AMAZING!"

*sweat drops* "He has more energy than I ever will." Itachi said to himself, sitting down to catch his breath.

"...heh...SHUT-UP!" Sakura yelled.

*sweat drops down as well* "Looks like you haven't changed Naruto." Iruka sighed while Naruto kept on jumping around.

"...hm...and Iruka-sensei, what if we opened the scrolls _during_ the test?" Itachi asked.

"Very good Itachi. You see," Itachi held out one of the scrolls. "As you know the test rules are to test your ability to complete missions. If you were weak and broke the rules those exam takers would've been knocked out until the test was over." Iruka explained.

"Bah! You would've what?!" Naruto yelled. "Jeez! That was close!"

"I know!" Sakura agreed. "Oh yes sensei, what is the meaning of the word up there? There's a word missing and we really any figure it out it seems."

"Forget that crap! We passed dammit!" Naruto cut off.

*vein pops* "NARUTO!"

Iruka continued. "Actually I'm here to explain that. Just read it. It's the motto of hokage-sama."

"Motto?"

"Yes Naruto. In this paragraph, heaven refers to the human mind. Earth refers to the human body. If you lack heaven then gain knowledge. Prepare. For example if Naruto's weakness is his brain."

Naruto crossed his arms and had on a pout face, Sakura slightly giggled. "Jeez. Always someone tellin' me how dumb I am."

"And if you lack earth." Sakura's turn.

"Then run and train more. So let's say if Sakura's weakness is in the field then you have to keep on trying hard." Sakura sheepishly grinned while Naruto smirked in triumph.

"And if you have both heaven and earth," Itachi's turn. "you can succeed in even the most dire of situations."

"Get to the point Iruka-sensei." Itachi ushered giving some Uchiha style attitude.

"Right so the missing word of course is supposed to represent a chūnin." Iruka unraveled the scroll revealing an already used summoning jutsu.

"So put that where the missing blank and the last sentence is: _these rules will guide a person's extremes_."

"These five days of survival were but the basics you need to become a chūnin. Chūnin are at the rank of a military captain and have the responsibility of guiding a team. Knowledge and stamina are all needed for that step-up to become a truly great chūnin."

"Keep this chūnin motto in mind for your next challenge."

Naruto saluted to Iruka. "Yes sir!"

"..."

"And for this last test, don't push yourselves too hard everyone." Iruka turned to Naruto. "Especially you Naruto-"

"No. Once I received this leaf forehead protector it meant I was no longer an academy student. You can't keep on worrying about me!" Naruto adjusted his forehead protector. "Doesn't that mean I'm grown up now?! I may of not changed to your liking that much but I am not a kid!"

"...I am a NINJA!"

"...hm...I'm sorry Naruto..."

_Flashback to five days earlier..._

Iruka stood in Anko's office. The thought of sending Naruto in for the chūnin exams didn't sit too well for him. "...no I know their strengths. I know their weakness and they will fail! I want to prepare them for the very worst!" Iruka argued.

Anko sighed, she threw her dumpling stick in the trash. "...whatever. If you're just so passionate about this then go ahead. It's not a so popular job like it used to be."

Iruka bowed down. "Thank you!"

"...but those are Kakashi's kids. One of them I hear is a Uchiha. I'm expecting something special out of them."

"..." (_Stay out of this Iruka. They are no longer your students. They are shinobi_.)

(I guess maybe it's you Kakashi-sensei who truly know what they're capable of...)

_Tower...present time..._

Anko squeezed the portion of her neck where the curse mark was. "...ugh..."

Third hokage puffed out a blow of smoke. "Does it still hurt?"

"No, it's getting better." Anko weakly reassured.

The chūnin Hagane Kotetsu and his best friend Kamizuki Izumo stood behind Anko. "Now that you mentioned that, Orochimaru, is he not one of the legendary leaf shinobi? And isn't he in the bingo book? One of the five shinobi ANBU can't even get close to." Kotetsu brought up.

"And of all times, now?" Izumo asked.

Anko remembered what Orochimaru said to her. (_there's a child I want who carries the Uchiha blood..._) "Possibly because of him..." (yet Orochimaru said he never got Itachi...I wonder what stopped him...?)

"It must be because of Itachi." Third hokage suddenly said.

"Wha-"

*bleep* *bleep* Anko looked to the screen, the proctor stood there._ "_We have confirmed 21 have passed. By rules we will start the preliminaries before the start of the third test for the first time in five years. The second test is ultimately complete._"_

The hokage thought for a bit. "Let's proceed as planned. Just keep an eye on _his_ movements."

_Preliminaries hall..._

"Well everyone, congratulations on passing your second test!" Anko announced.

The konoha 9 and then some all stood in there waiting for their next challenge. (There's still so many left...how troublesome...) Shikamaru thought.

Anko thought the same thing. (I told everyone I would get it down by half but I expected single digits. 21 out of 78 still remain. Seven teams made it in.)

All the proctors, all the jounin, everyone stood by one another. Directly across was the genin pigs. "Yes Itachi-kun made it with that rag-tag team he's in!" Ino whispered to herself.

Guy stood by his rival Kakashi...well that bit isn't important. "Your team Kakashi might have passed but so did mine and this is as far as they go."

"...huh did you say something?" Kakashi asked.

(BAH! Kakashi just trying to get on not nerves. Expected out of my rival.)

Zaku glared at Itachi, he was alive apparently. But his arms were broke, his rib cage was cracked and he was internally bleeding...barely alive. (I will kill you Uchiha Itachi.)

Neji looked back to Itachi. (he made it? It would be fun to battle him with such powers he possess.)

Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. (I'm glad Naruto-kun made it.)

Naruto put his hands behind his head. "Wow! It's like the whole leaf village is here!"

"That isn't necessarily a good thing Naruto, that's more opponents." Itachi said.

"Hehe! That just makes it all the more fun! You gotta look at the bright side for once weasel!"

(for you Naruto that's easy.)

"Alright everyone shut up! Hokage-sama will no explain the third test!" Anko yelled, shutting everyone up.

Third hokage walked up and cleared his throat. "Before the third test there is something I want you all to know."

"Now why do we have all the alliances countries taking these exams together?"

"..."

"To promote friendship among the counties and to raise the level and understanding of a shinobi...now the true meaning..."

"..."

"A replacement of war among the allies. Go back in history, our allies were once our enemies. So we have these exams in order to prevent fighting...that is the true meaning of the chūnin exams."

Naruto couldn't stand it anymore. "Why the hell are you making this confusing?! I thought this was a test to decided whether or whether not we'll become chūnin!"

"That is true but..."

(Here we go with the but's...)

"This exam has another meaning each country's shinobi risk their own lives for the prestige of their land."

"Wha- prestige?" (the hell does that mean?)

"It's basically respect and honor." Itachi explained.

"Ah I see!"

"So watching these exams," Third hokage continued. "will be leaders and higher-ups who make use of the shinobi and leaders of the country will also be there to watch you."

"If the strength of a country is clear, that country receives more clients and vice-versa. It can also be a warning signal to enemy countries, like saying our country is this strong."

Kiba had enough of this. "But why do we have to risk our lives?!"

"The strength of the country is its village. The strength of a village is its shinobi who stand there."

"And a shinobi' true strength is born through risking one's life. These exams are set up so you risk your life and show everyone your true power, what truly lies inside you."

"Then what was the point of saying this has to deal with friendship if you clearly stated otherwise?" Itachi asked.

"I didn't want to confuse others in the beginning. By losing life and establishing those very situations achieves balance and creates friendship. Now before we begin this test, this isn't just a test...this is a battle. Your lives, dreams, everything is on the line."

"...I don't care. Just hurry up and explain it already." Gaara ushered.

*cough* A shinobi appeared in the room. "Excuse me hokage-sama but as referee would you allow me to explain this test?"

Third hokage moved out-of-the-way. "Of course."

He stood up. "Hello everyone my name is Gekkou Hayate... *cough* *cough* before we start the main event you have one more thing you have to do."

*cough* "It's called the preliminaries. It's to decided who moves on to the third test."

"What?! Preliminary?!" Shikamaru yelled. (How many of these damn trials! Man this sucks!)

"Well the first and second test have been too easy this year. There's just one too many people renaming. According to the rules we must have a preliminary, people will be coming and we don't want these test to run on too long." Hayate explained.

"...those who fill ill about this come forward now if you wish not to fight. Because we'll be starting these test immediately."

"NOW?! After hell in that forest?!" Kiba argued.

"Yes now."

Kabuto slightly raised his hand, he took a sharp glance at Itachi. "Yeah I'll quit."

(Serves him right! Bastard try to trick me!) Naruto thought to himself, looking away.

Hayate checked him off. "Anyone else, these will by the way be individual battles. Just a heads up."

(Bah! I can't stand this!) "Why the hell are you quitting now after all those times you quit before?!" Naruto yelled.

"...My body is just too beat up and I can't even hear out of my left ear."

"..."

Hayate walked up to them. "Anyone else?"

No one else.

(Didn't I already tell him? The idiot.) Itachi thought to himself.

Anko got out her files. "Hey hokage-sama, he's the one from the battle at bell-flower pass."

"A jounin from the medical team brought him back from the enemy's child who survived."

"He's that kid then..." *Kabuto's full back story will not come until several, several chapters later.*

Kabuto shifted his glasses. (A spy's work is never done. Itachi already knows that I work for Orochimaru...I can't risk revealing my identity.)

Kabuto said something to his partners then he just left. Itachi started to grow an aching headache. His body was trying to fight back that curse of hatred...pure willpower. (It seems I'll have to keep training with the Mangeykō sharigan...after these exams...I think I'll have to drop out of the team...I'm becoming a danger to my teammates...)

Itachi turned to Sakura. He spoke in a hushed voice. "Sakura please do not speak of the Mangeykō sharigan."

Memories of Itachi's face covered in blood while a skeleton surrounded him came flooding back. It must have hurt so...so much. "Itachi-kun...you were in so much pain I..."

"It will only get worse...if people know about the sharigan. There are dangerous people out there...powers greatly surpassing my own...that is why...you can't ever tell someone about my powers..."

_The Akatsuki...*Akatsuki theme plays*_

Sasuke stood in a dim-lit room with Tobi. "Does he have it?" Sasuke asked.

"He does."

"And the curse?"

"...I'm not sure but slowly it will eat him up. He will soon surpass Shisu in his visual prowess."

"Once the curse fully develops. My brother will become unstoppable."

"I'll take him in train him to be that great Sasuke."

"When?"

"After the exams. It's too much commotion right now, I'll trust in Orochimaru to kill the third hokage."

"The world will finally see what the Uchiha is truly capable of."

_Back to preliminaries place..._

"But Itachi-kun..."

"I told you Sakura...stop calling me that. In the world of shinobi those with power get hunted and hunted. Those without must learn to mimic and surpass those powers."

"..."

"That is why Sakura...when Naruto and I cannot be here to protect you. You have to protect your self."

"Itachi...stop scaring everyone like that! It's not true!" Naruto cut in.

"If you are afraid of the truth then you aren't cut out for the world of shinobi." Itachi coldly stated. "Even I'm afraid Naruto of the truth...I can't runway from the fact that I must do something horrible to someone."

"I'm here for these exams to support you guys but I can't seem to do even that. That's why I have to see Naruto...I want to fight you Naruto the most."

"... me...the most?"

Anko started to have ill feelings about the Itachi and Orochimaru thing. "We should have Itachi removed and watched over. Orochimaru really wants him...we can't let him get Itachi."

"He's from the Uchiha clan...such stubbornness run in their blood, I don't think he would go with that." Third hokage contradicted.

"Not exactly," Anko turned around, just plain old Kakashi. "Itachi is a Uchiha but he's unlike most I've seen. He has the intelligence and mind to be the hokage someday."

"Hm...even if his personality isn't stubborn his body is. Itachi should've been dead by now, such pressure he puts on it." The third stated and that was true, he should of been dead. "With that knowledge let's just keep an eye on Itachi. Make sure Orochimaru doesn't try anything."

Hayate cleared his throat. "Now the preliminaries consist of one on one matches. There are 20 entrants therefore ten matches. The winners will advance to the third and final test."

"There are basically no rules. You fight until one of you dies or acknowledges your defeat. If I see someone has clearly one I will step in." Hayate gestured to the electronic board that just opened up. "This is where your fate lies. This is I admit sudden but here we go. Let the preliminaries begin."

The electronic board blinked a few times, Naruto looked at it in disbelief. Hayate looked at the board. "Alright then our first fight: Uchiha Itachi versus Akado Yoroi." *Yoroi is one of Kabuto's teammates.*

The two entrants walked up to the front. "Now," Hayate announced. "let the match begin."

* * *

><p>AN: So I'm taking down the poll...but I put up a new poll, just a poplularity poll:)


	9. Chapter 9: What it truly means

**Recap: **Team 7 successfully completes the second phase of the chūnin exams. Yay. Kabuto it turns out is evil and the preliminaries begin.

**Notice:** Sooner or later I'm adding OVA's, random filler episodes (if there is any...), and movie chapters. They're just for fun and you can skip them if you like. I'm releasing those along with the canon chapter so there. You can request if you like but don't get your hopes up...this is kinda a new thing.

*OVA's are original video animation. Those are your short ten-minute animation you usually get in anime movies in theaters. Equivalent to animated shorts right before you see your movie depending on what you're watching.*

_italic_=white zetsu **bold**=black zetsu underline=both

* * *

><p>Hayate coughed again. "Will all the others move up to the upper level, except for the participants." Everyone walked up the stairs.<p>

(Bah! If Itachi-weasel wants to fight me so much he better not lose.) "Don't you dare lose weasel!" Naruto barked.

Kakashi walked past Itachi. "Don't overdo it Itachi."

"I know."

"If something unexpected does happen, make sure to keep your cool. You'll go crazy if you don't."

"That's my curse."

Kakashi walked up the stairs, let's see how well Itachi can handle this fight. (I know what I can never use which I won't. Not when he could be watching. I won't use my sharigan unless I have to. This fight will be over quick.)

"Begin." Hayate announced.

Yoroi and Itachi nodded to each other. "Are you ready?" Itachi asked. "Don't worry. I won't kill you." Itachi manged to add.

"I can't say the same!"

"Fair."

"Let's do this!" Yoroi rummaged through his bag and grabbed several shuriken, he threw them at Itachi.

The shuriken landed right behind Itachi. Yoroi blinked his eyes...he didn't see Itachi dodge them...luck maybe?

"Dah! Kakashi-sensei! What's happening now?!" Naruto yelled, Itachi walked over to Yoroi and punched him in the skull. Yoroi passed out. "He didn't do a thing to stop Itachi."

"It's genjutsu Naruto, you should know that by now."

Yoroi's hand glowed with chakra, his speciality move. He ran up to Itachi who didn't move. "Fool!" Yoroi yelled.

"...!" Yoroi's hand went straight through Itachi's body. "How the...how the hell did you do...that?"

"The moment you looked into my eyes. Your fate was sealed." Itachi answered.

"Bah! Genjutsu! You're a genjutsu user!"

"This was over before it even started."

And it was too late. The battle ended in a blink of the eye. Yoroi was passed out. Hayate walked over. "This battle is over."

Orochimaru still in disguise smirked. (His genjutsu is greater than my own...excellent...)

"YEAH!" Naruto cheered breaking the silence. "Bah! You didn't even win the gutsy way cheater! Ha! I'll show you a real fight weasel!"

Kakashi randomly appeared while holding his book. "Outstanding Itachi. I've never seen a battle quicker than your's." Kakashi praised.

(Itachi-kun I know I'm not supposed to say it like that but I just can't help it. You truly are amazing Itachi.) Sakura thought to herself.

(That idiot won't stop calling me weasel...never mind about that, I can't keep on using Genjutsu like that. Not until I can improve it. People will clearly see past my tricks...) Itachi thought to himself.

Tenten looked to see that Neji was speechless... (What is your true power Itachi? I want to see your power from back in the forest...that was truly amazing...)

Gaara looked at Itachi, this is who he wanted to fight. He was so mysterious yet he used such petty tricks and won in an instant. (He'll be fun to kill...)

"Mphm! Mpmh!" Dosu unwrapped Zaku bandages on his mouth. "I'm going to kill this Itachi jerk!" Zaku yelled.

"Shut up Zaku. You better hope you don't get paired with Itachi on round three. Not after he nearly killed you..."

"Don't remind me about that dammit!"

"Itachi-kun is very strong..." Hinata faintly said.

Kiba pat Hinata on the back. "Don't be a downer Hinata! Itachi is such a wimp, right Akamaru?"

"...arrr..."

"So there's something more to him? Heh then why waste chakra on a dumb genjutsu? No one else here uses genjutsu."

"Because it requires precise chakra control." Shino said.

"And who needs that?"

"Everyone if you value living."

The board flickered again and everyone shut up. "Abumi Zaku vs Aburame Shino."

Zaku took off the bandages around his arms, legs, and around his chest. "Peh this'll be easy!"

Hayate took a look at Zaku, who looked badly, badly damaged. "Zaku, are you sure you want to do this?" Hayate asked.

"Don't lecture me on my self need!" Zaku bit off the bandages around his 'good' arm. Zaku then coughed up some blood, splattering it on the ground. "...This'll be child's..." *cough* "...play..."

Hayate sighed. "If you're so confident in your own abilities..."

"No...forefit Zaku." Shino coldly stated.

*cough* "...never..." *cough*

Naruto watched Zaku struggle and he kinda felt bad for him. "Man...who messed up this Zaku guy? He looks like he got squeezed to death, he won't stop coughing up blood..."

Sakura looked at Itachi who was intently watching the match. "I don't know Naruto..."

Hayate sighed once more, ignorant fool. "...let the match begin." Hayate then stood out pf the way.

Zaku lunged for Shino then dug in his claws into Shino's upper arm area. "You can't beat me, not in the state you're in."

"I can! Shut up!" *cough* Zaku blasted Shino away, proving yes he could fight. Zaku clenched his stomach which started to hurt again. "...damn. Damn Itachi."

Shino stood up. There was something black on his face. (Dah! What're those?!...Wait those are bugs! Do they live in his body?!) Zaku thought to himself, witnessing the bugs slowly climbing up his face.

Zaku looked back, an army of bugs started crawling up to him. "Those are if you're wondering destruction bugs." Shino explained. "They attack their prey in large numbers and eat chakra. If this many attack you, you'll be no doubt dead. Forfeit I'm warning you."

"You can't pass here and if you decided to attack it'll be over. Whenever you should always have a trump card!"

(...no...Orochimaru-sama found me when I was just an orphan, he gave me potential! I will never give up on him!)

Zaku held out both arms. "Always have a trump card!" 100% full power for both arms, he was ready to defeat this guy!

Shino sighed. "This was over before it even started."

*BAM*

Zaku's arms and chest blew out.

His rib cage was shattered. Zaku fell down in the pool of his own blood. "I told you Zaku to forfeit."

Naruto's mouth hung wide open. "Dah! Did you see that Sakura-chan?! That guy just exploded!"

Medic nin came in with a stretcher. "Report?" Hayate asked. "Very slim if at all any chance of Zaku living."

"That's where ignorance and arrogance *cough* will get you."

"Bah! Itachi-weasel! What the hell just happened?!" Naruto asked.

"Sharigan!" Itachi looked at Shino's body. Several hundred chakras lies within his body...amazing. "Like I thought. Shino has bugs living within him for he is apart of the Aburame clan."

"The Abu-wha?"

"The Aburame, at the time of their birth they give up their bodies to these insects as a nest. By feeding them said chakra their clan can control the insects and use them to their bidding." Itachi explained. "It's just a special trait, for Uchiha their eye prowess, for Uzumaki their sealing jutsu, and this list goes on."

"Huh? Sealing jutsu?"

"Fūinjutsu."

"I can't seal anything..."

"Well there are reasons for everything."

The board flickered again. Tsurugi Misumi versus Kankurō. (Heh my turn!) Kankurō walked down the steps to the arena. "Let the third match begin." Hayate announced.

"I will not show any mercy, once I use my techniques give up immediately, this'll be quick." Misumi warned.

(More ignorance I see...)

Kankurō set down his thing behind his back. "Ignorance leads to arrogance, people like you are fools."

Misumi ran up to Kankurō and swung his arm, Kankurō blocked that with his forearm. That was until Misumi's arm wrapped around his forearm then snaked around his entire body. "..." Kankurō began to struggle. Misumi only squeezed harder and harder.

"The more you struggle. The more I'll squeeze." Misumi hissed.

Kankurō smirked. "You're the one who will pay for this!"

*SNAP*

"He broke his neck!" Lee exclaimed.

Itachi looked a little closer. "...no he didn't."

Misumi sighed. "I told you-"

Kankurō swung his head around, his face was peeled off revealing a wooden structure...a puppet. "You've had your fun! My turn!" The puppet wrapped around Misumi's body. The real Kankurō emerged from the bandaged thing.

On Kankurō's fingertips were chakra strings, controlling the puppet. Hayate stepped in. "This battle cannot continue. The winner is Kankurō!" Hayate announced.

"Hey wait...Kakashi-senisei! That's cheating! Two on one is unfair!" Naruto pointed out.

"That's not two on one. It's a doll, the caster of the puppet no jutsu freely controls the puppet with the use of chakra strings. It's like using shuriken or kunai just a little more advanced."

"Now it is time for the fourth match!" Hayate announced.

"Yeesh! How can a puppet match up with a kunai?"

Sakura sighed. "It just does Naruto."

Kakashi pointed to the board. "Sakura it's your turn." Yamanaka Ino versus Haruno Sakura...

Itachi nodded to Sakura. "I believe in you Sakura." Itachi said.

"Itachi..." Sakura walked down the stairs. "I won't let you down."

Ino and Sakura stood face to face with each other. This was their battle. "I never knew I would have to fight you Sakura."

Sakura took off her forehead protector. "...!"

* * *

><p><em>flashback...<em>

Sakura was sitting on a swing set, watching her crush, Uchiha Itachi, fight with Naruto. Well it was more like Naruto would constantly yell at Itachi and Itachi wouldn't care but it's basically fighting. "No matter how close I try to get to you...you're always so far Itachi-kun..."

Ino snuck up behind Sakura. "Sakura!"

"Dah!" Sakura fell off the swing and hit the ground, hard. Ino picked Sakura up. "Heh, sorry about that Sakura. But we need to pick flowers like sensei told us to."

"...well yeah but..."

Apparently Itachi and Naruto also happened to hear a noise. "Hey Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura's face flushed with embarrassment, she ran off while Ino just sighed. "...what is wrong with that girl?"

"Bah! Look what you did weasel!" Naruto yelled.

"...I didn't do anything..." Itachi grabbed Naruto's arm. "We aren't suppose to be here. We need to leave..." Naruto and Itachi ran off to else know's where.

Ino walked about until she found Sakura grabbing random flowers, frustrated Sakura threw them on the grass and laid down. "Sakura...you gave up?" Ino asked, sitting right next to her.

"I can't pick these flowers, it's too hard and this has nothing to do with becoming a strong ninja because I will never use this in real life!"

Ino thought for a bit. "No you won't but," Ino picked up a flower. "it's not hard to pick simple flowers. You just get one main flower then complement it with the others...I mean you would think you would be good with this since you're named after a flower."

"...Yeah..."

"You see if the cosmos are your main flower then...hey Sakura what's wrong?" Ino asked.

"...it's just that I keep on thinking back to earlier when I fell right in front of Itachi..."

"That's all? Jeez Sakura you over react, you know Itachi doesn't care about that."

"But what if he-"

A group of girls suddenly came in and ruined everything. The main one, whatever her name is, kicked blades of grass at Sakura. "Do you think you're pretty billboard brow?! Stop trying to make yourself look good because it's only a lost-"

Ino swiped a bunch of Fujibakama, in a single flick of the wrist she threw it in Ami's mouth. "I'm sorry but you're mouth looked like a vase...might wanna get that checked out, there's poison in the roots."

The three girls ran off in search for their sensei. Sakura looked up at Ino. (Ino...why are you just...I could only wish to be as talented as you...) Sakura held the Fujibakama in her hand. "Compared to you Ino-chan...I'm just a Fujibakama." Sakura sighed.

"No...not even a flower...just a bud."

Sakura didn't know how to take that, she timidly laughed. "Just a...bud..."

* * *

><p>Sakura stood firmly. "I will not fight over Itachi with you because the match is already made, I am stronger than you, and I have every intention on beating you." Sakura firmly stated.<p>

"How do you think you're taking too?! Don't act all high and mighty!" Ino yelled.

Up in the stands, Naruto was barely hanging over the edge. "Man! This is...! Dah! I'm falling!" Naruto yelled, he nearly fell down but of course Itachi caught him.

"Get off the edge Naruto." Kakashi sighed.

"Kakashi-sensei, don't you think this will end in a draw?"

"A draw?! What do you mean?! Sakura will pulverize Ino!" Naruto cut in.

"But with what? Sakura is very smart and knows how to be a proper shinobi but...where is her strength?"

"She doesn't need jutsu to be strong Itachi! She needs guts! That is a true ninja Itachi!"

"That's probably why this is the perfect match for her..."

* * *

><p><em>Flashback...<em>

"Why did you even give me this ribbon then if I'm only a bud?" Sakura asked.

Ino picked up another Fujibakama. "Because someday that bud will grow into a flower, a flower that will perhaps be even more beautiful that the cosmos..."

Tears dropped down on a petal of a the Fuijibakama. "Ino-chan...thank...you..."

* * *

><p><em>That's why I want to fight on fair grounds with you Ino, I don't just want to show Itachi...I want to show you Ino that this bud has bloomed. <em>

_That is why I have to surpass you..._

Naruto watched them, still confused as ever. "Huh? Man they look so tightened up...why is this such a big deal?"

"Well...how would it be if we were to fight?" Itachi asked. "It would be the same..."

"That's because we're rivals!"

"So are Ino and Sakura."

* * *

><p>"Why don't you put the forehead protector on your forehead?"<p>

"When I will put this on my forehead...is when I don't lose to you Ino, as a shinobi."

"Then I will do the same...until that time Sakura."

* * *

><p>Sakura and Ino both put their forehead protectors on their forehead, which meant a greater meaning to them then what everyone else thought. (Ram! Snake! Tiger!) Two other Sakura clones stood beside her, Sakura then took off to Ino.<p>

"Bah! Such childish jutsu!" Ino yelled. (I just need to look closely...)

Sakura did a hand seal, all her chakra was concentrated on the soules of her feet. (What is Sakura-)

*BAM*

In a quick second, Sakura landed a punch right on Ino's face.

"She's amazing at chakra control." Itachi highly praised.

"...wait...amazing...?" Naruto stuttered, he tried not to but saying that was a big surprise coming from Itachi, well no it wasn't actually

"I don't think I've ever thought to do that, you know...she would make an excellent medic nin. Possibly even surpassing Tsunade."

"Wha? A medic nin?"

"A ninja who use precise chakra techniques to heal, Tsunade is highly regarded as being the master of all healing. And a master of many _other_ things..."

Once Sakura punched Ino the two went off, their skills were evenly matched which basically meant it was going to be a very, very long battle. "This is it!" Sakura yelled, reeling up her fist.

"How did you become so strong?!" Ino yelled back, doing the same.

*BAM*

Ino and Sakura fell back down on opposite sides of each other, blood spilled out of their mouths. The two shakily got up. (This is taking longer than I expected. It's been ten minutes already...) Hayate thought to himself.

"How can we be even?!" Ino yelled.

"I am not even with someone who worries about her long pretty hair." Sakura remarked.

"STOP LOOKING DOWN UPON ME!"

Shikamaru started to worry. "Ino is getting to her breaking point..."

"This is it." Ino toil out her kunai then sliced her pony-tail off. "Don't think you're the only one who can cut their hair!"

Everyone gasped.

Ino did a bird hand seal, instead this time she opened up her hands making am "O" like shape. "This is where it ends Haruno."

"Huh? What the hell is Ino doing?!" Naruto asked in a frantic tone.

"It's the mind body change technique. It's a jutsu that allows you to project your own spiritual energy into your opponents body allowing you to control that person. But mind that, it has a major weakness. It's one a slow jutsu and two it requires time to get back to your actual body, which means for that time an enemy can attack you." Kakashi explained.

"And what if it misses?"

"Then you're vulnerable for the enemy to attack."

"That's a really stupid justu! Who would use that?"

_Team 8..._

"Why would she use that? She's only suppose to use that during my shadow technique!" Shikamaru yelled. "She's going to lose!"

"It's not even a battle jutsu. It's really a spy jutsu." Asuma added.

Ino got into position while Sakura ran around, ignoring the yells of Shikamaru she used it anyways. "MIND BODY CHANGE TECHNIQUE!"

Ino lowered her head as well as Sakura. Sakura smirked "Looks like you missed Ino." Suddenly she felt something snake up her legs.

"Did I miss?"

Ino got down on her knees. "Now that I trapped you. This battle is finished." Ino did the bird hand seal. "Mind body change technique."

The room was silent, Ino's head dropped down. But Sakura's head went up. "This is it..."

"...! Sakura!" Itachi quietly said.

"What's wrong with her?" Naruto asked.

"She's under the jutsu Ino cast."

"No..."

Sakura raised her hand up. "I Haruno Sakura would like to-"

"NO! NO SAKURA YOU WILL NEVER EVER GIVE UP! YOU CAN'T!" Naruto yelled, his hands clenching the railing.

"Hm? Is she okay?" Itachi watched Sakura tremble and shake, like she was having a fight inside her.

"Do you want to forfeit?" Hayate asked.

"CHA! WHY IN THE HELL WOULD I FORFEIT?!"

*sweat drops* "Is Sakura acting how she would on the inside?" Itachi asked.

Finally the technique failed making Ino go back into her own body. Everyone gasped again but it seemed like that was coming. Kakashi wasn't that surprised though. (She has such a strong ambition not wanting to lose to get rival, not to lose.) Kakashi turned to Naruto. (Just like Naruto.)

Naruto let go of the railing. "Do you think Itachi, when we have our battle...will it be like their's."

"...I'm not entirely sure Naruto..."

"Who would win?"

"Whoever has the most ambition, and the most determination to reach their goal."

Sakura and Ino ran up to each other and punched each other for the last time marking their end of their battle, according to Hayate. "Because both opponents are knocked out. This ends the match with no winner."

"Hey Sakura?!"

Kakashi and Asuma picked them up and set them down. "They'll be okay in about half an hour." Asuma reassured.

Temari vs. Tenten

"Let the fifth match begin!"

Just outside the preliminaries hall a vortex appeared. It was Tobi. "Heh..."

A small black portal appeared from the ground as well, a venus fly trap thing emerged from the portal. Half of his skin white, the other black along with that he wore the iconic red cloud Akatsuki cloak...I believe he hasn't been introduced has he?

"_Why are you so interested in him now_?"

"Zetsu...you're late...anyways Orochimaru is near...

"_So now we're going to capture Itachi_?"

"No...much too early for that. We're going to influence him. I have to take him after the chūnin exams and after whatever Orochimaru is trying to do."

_Back in preliminaries place..._

"And the winner of round five is Temari!" Hayate announced.

(It's him!) Itachi started to walk off.

"Wait! Weasel where are you going?" Naruto asked.

"...out...I'll be back..."

"To the bathroom?"

"...sure."

"Just be back in time for my match!"

"I promise I will, Naruto." With that Itachi ran out of the preliminaries hall, he opened several doors and went into the tower's main hall, where they entered.

"I didn't expect to meet you here little brother."

Itachi paused, his heart skipped a beat, what was he going to do? "Sasuke?"

Sasuke was in fact there along with Kisame. "Why are...you here?" Itachi asked, his tone from surprised to enforced.

"We're going to kill Naruto, so it'll be easier to get the nine tails." Sasuke answered, sliding out his katana.

"That's a foolish idea, when there's so many shinobi around, including the hokage...you will only die."

"Don't scold me like I'm a child, Kisame, I can easily take my failure of a brother."

* * *

><p>AN: Don't be upset because sometimes I do cut off some unimportant battles, but I'm not here to retell the story of Naruto. And from now on, the battles are officially changed. Sakura and Ino's marked the last of same storyline battles, so oh well again:/


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